


Shingeki no Kyojin: Dune Rising

by desertbloom



Series: Shingeki no Kyojin: Desert Bloom [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-05 03:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11568969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desertbloom/pseuds/desertbloom
Summary: Starting in a time before the era of the events in Attack on Titan followed by a shift to the present; the two worlds are entwined in ways unimaginable.  Centred around a young woman, Nina Were,  the story follows the folly of humanity through the eyes of a girl who is thrown into an extraordinary journey, forced to reconcile herself with the remnants of her past life and look to an uncertain and strange future.





	1. After the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hey :)
> 
> So this is the start of something looong and something i hope i don't regret lol. I've been wondering, like loads of people, what happened to the rest of the world? And where did the titans come from? What is this pit of organic matter? And who were the Marleys? and all that good stuff. So here, i'll try and answer those questions in a completely fictional but hopefully convincing fashion.
> 
> I also kept on thinking- what if a total, complete alien was thrown into the snk world? Someone from outside the walls of a radically different ethnic and cultural background-how would they cope/ interact? (i know there's Mikasa, bless her, but she and the other few Asians have always been in the walls and she seems pretty integrated to me...). The thought wouldn't leave my head and so Nina Were was born. So yeah this is the first 'volume', for lack of a better word and really sets the scene for the rest to come.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Desertbloom ❀
> 
>  
> 
> My tumblr: https://desertbl00m.tumblr.com/  
> x

There came a time when the people did nothing but build walls. Walls that could not be seen or touched. They stopped no wind and cast no shadow. Yet it was their terrible strength that eventually lead to humanity's downfall. The downfall of the ones who took such pains to construct them.

 The first wall was around the earth's waist. A burning, equatorial girdle-she shook and quivered but they simply drew the wall in closer.

_Now that Ice caps are no longer in existence we must-...Worldwide flooding devastates countless...the Alpha-continent has been confirmed a virtual dessert...extensive foundations are being laid for underground metropolises in the worst affected areas..._

                                                             

The second wall was around their eyes. The leaps in technological advancement stupefied even the ones who were driving it; never before had they been so empowered and so blind. Boundaries became the brand of cowardice and morals the sad scraps of dreams.

_Will your next child to be the smartest, the most attractive? Begin the 20-year payment plan now...the boy who can breathe underwater...3D-gold printing throws millionaires into rage...plant devours owner..._

                                                           

The third wall took hold of their hearts. There were those who began to resent hues and shades-some simply did not see the need for them. And so the family tree whose branches were already hollow and rotting, had its roots wrenched out then forced again into strange and familiar cracks.

_The Fourth Reich is doing well-cleansing is 98.3% underway... 3-year relocation plan of untermensch to most immediate geo-genetic continent has been aborted...are now to be eliminated on sight..._

_Return to the motherlands...close in, protect, guard against...do not let the pale ones near_

                                                    

And from there, only more walls were built, towering, towering until everyone thought- _after all home is better._ Secrecy and hatred had never been so entwined.

_8000 tzar bomba magnitude warheads are now in position-5 aubenseiter spies executed...the time to expand the Fourth Reich has come..._

_Submission is death...the Alpha-continent is the most vulnerable...we have no choice but to stockpile as well..._

_Intelligence reports bi-continental stockpiling...reciprocate immediately-the Orient will not be passively consumed..._

A nuclear freeze took grip, crushing their hands and they would've stayed that way, frozen on mountains of death had it not been for a faint spark of lunacy. Indeed it was not a bright spark and concealed itself well and it so happened that it would ignite in a man within the latest regime of Europa, the Fourth Reich.

The fabled red button, so very quaint. It seemed that, throughout history, lunatics and buttons had always gravitated towards each other.

                                                              

Except now there were many buttons and only one lunatic. Yet it was enough to set them all off, every single one.

And the walls came crashing down.

Neutralised

Neutralised

Neutral-

 _But_ , laughed the earth, _fire is not a neutral entity-it_ burns. Rather, what it leaves behind is neutral and so the earth was content to burn, to smoulder and blister.

She bade farewell to the remnants of the ozone and embraced the dark, smoking cloak and the winter that came with it. She let waves that were not water course through her veins.

But she could not ignore, the pitter patter beneath her surface and she sighed.  _Tenacious things, trust them..._ she threw off the cloak and drew the ozone back around her, albeit skimpily  _ah well I'll have some fun and watch again...what these creatures will do._

 


	2. The Awakening

**Location: Southern region of the Alpha continent**

They lived like rats.

What remained of the population resided completely underground in pre-established municipalities. They clung on to the scraps of their fragmented society and petered out supplies until slices of bread became transparent. 

Man must eat to live. So they ventured even deeper and found their needs met in one way or another. There were wells and subterranean rivers with strange, blind fish and caves with vegetation that could only be described as glowing. So they winced and ate and waited and found that their hearts were still beating. And this is how they lived.

In the centre of their civilisation, they erected a great clock, the timer which counted the seconds, days, and lifetimes before The Hatch could open and they could rise once again. Every person tied themselves to the glowing digits, round their wrists, on their breasts, circling their necks and so was the Great Wait.

But there were those who could not wait. And one such individual took the form of a boy who yearned for a light that didn't glow or pulse or flicker. And so he sneaked to the outskirts where the buildings ended in walls of earth. He dug with small, aching hands forward and  _up_ only to be showered with dirt and stones. But the next day he came again...then the next week with a shovel, then the next month with a drill until he was abruptly blinded by cracks of scorching light.

And suddenly he was horrified and rushed back down into the comforting dark.

The break remained untouched for a year until the boy returned his chest heaving with injustice, rebellion, childish fury. He would leave and they would weep. He bore up and out and let the sun beat down on his retinas until his cheeks began to sear. Then he ran and ran, the sand slipping apart as if making passage, and he ran still as if hurling the dreams and prayers of his people out behind him.

Soon the sun tired of training its piercing rays on the running child and sank below the dunes; the blinding blue gave way to a fleeting red and soon the boy was enveloped in a familiar darkness pricked with fickle stars. He was walking now but his steps were not his own-he felt himself being drawn forward. And as he approaches its edge, the moon curved through wafer-thin clouds and spilled its light onto the pit.

It seethed and foamed in a glittering mass; it was colourless and technicolor. His body angled forward and he thought, with words that were not his,  _this would be the most beautiful way to die._ Then it appeared rising up and rushing towards him. He was fossilised.

Thunder filled his ears as its face took form in front of him.  _Horns? Teeth? Roots?_  It held out a smoking hand as if to say  _if you please._  The thunder was joined by flashes and he fell back as his eyes admitted defeat.

When he came to,  _it_  had disappeared but the pit remained, shimmering. He scrambled up, cradling the fragments of his mind and fled.

He arrived at his hole and threw himself down it, weeping and into the arms of the crowd waiting below. They scolded and chided and embraced and he clung to anyone that he could to make certain that he hadn't left his soul behind.

No, he hadn't left anything behind. He'd only brought. With his return came the sickness and the people found their fingers, limbs, lips, noses vaporising into nothing. His county was sealed off but even so the sickness slipped between the cracks in their heels and the lines of their brows.

He stood intact amongst a sea of steam and screams and soon their eyes turned to him. The elders seized him before he was ripped apart.

The elders...relics of the time before the fall. They knew he was the cause and the key. A virus, highly mutated and fast-acting beyond comprehension. So with the remnants of once shining biotechnology, they managed to extract an antibody from his heaving blood.

They used it the first time only to witness an inevitable horror. It filled the room and they learnt of the boy's terror _...the only way, this is the only way? Then so be it..._ only this time they took care to alter its course of action.

Their bodies where restored in full but without the spirit that once inhabited them. The shells were taken to the surface, through the cursed hole dug by childish hands. Burying them would risk contamination of their water. They were shot up, projectiles, to rest somewhere far and away.

The screams stopped and with further quarantine measures, the sickness was suppressed... but not annihilated.  _Our work is not complete_ ; the virus would forever change its face. But the antibodies were just as light-footed and carried a mask for every transition. They realised that the people would endlessly need the boy's blood and bones. So they made him reside over them and hailed him as hope; the people could only wearily accept.

And so began the boy's reign as the chief, chieftain, and he beat down his terror and allowed his dark knowledge to rise inside him.

Yet the timer still ticked and its digits shifted in time with their hearts until the years finally gave way and brought the bell.

The resounding chime turned their heads to the face; and all of a sudden in their eyes there was reflected a row of zeros, noughts, nix. And they wept and rushed to The Hatch.

The crank pitched and the gears roared at them  _go go!_  A divine stairway rose before them and a hot wind whistled through. Suddenly they drew back in ecstatic fright. One man stepped forward and let their gratitude slap at his feet  _look for us, we will follow_. And he ascended and their eyes set his back in marble. He let the scorching breeze pull him up until he felt the sun curl sweltering fingers around him.

He fell to his knees, blinded and poured the sand over his head like a stream of fire. He could hear more tentative steps behind and he turned, tears in his eyes.

And their faces turned his heart to stone.

A sudden cool enveloped his back and they watched in awful horror as he was consumed by the jaws of death.

The jaws of a colossal, steaming, reeking terror. And not alone. The horizon seethed with figures of doomsday with all but their scythes.

They fled back down, flailing, hurtling  _a monster, close the hatch CLOSE IT giants, demons...everywhere...eaten he was EATEN. They ate him..._

Dismay and shock ripped through them  _were they damned to live as rats, bent and furtive and withered?_  They cowered but even as they shook, their bodies made the ground shake with them.

It was too late-they had already seen the light, tasted the air. They knew if they did not rise, their hearts would rot like cadavers in the sun.

And so the struggle between the humans and the monsters began. Monsters that ate people or only their heads. That spat out their bodies or swallowed them whole. They were given many names; hofu, yemi, imlaq, terrors, giants, devourers.

In the end they called them the Omiran, titans.


	3. Emergence

Even with their determination to resist, there was no way the humans could resurface with the immediate threat of the titans. 

They shivered below for a while and learnt to recognise the distant, pounding footsteps. After a period there was a silence. Again they tentatively opened the Hatch giving way to a flurry of sand. To their immense wonder and astonishment they found the immediate surrounding plains empty.  _Was it a dream? No..._  the terrors still lurked on the horizon  _but not here...why?_  A small group came out further and then they found small jutting stones arranged in a curve, far ahead of them. They turned and saw that they were encircled.

The sands settled and they found themselves a tiny island in a sea of titans. They saw how wide a berth the titans had given the perimeter and ventured to its edge, touched the stones. They crumbled but did not fall, reforming where they stood. And with this, a flame of hope ignited explosively in their chests. They let their voices echo and tumble across the dunes and there they decided to not only fight but to  _conquer._

These came to be known as haven rings-there were several in the immediate vicinity of their base and the reason behind why titans wouldn't come near them remained a mystery. What they were, if they were perhaps alive was also unknown-any attempted samples immediately disintegrated and returned to the stones. Some appeared and disappeared periodically in around the same areas. Some disappeared never to return only to have a new area be encircled by a fresh ring. After close observation, they were able to form maps predicting arrivals and disappearances of rings, including the period that they would remain for.

                                                                           

With this they expanded their territory, they went further until they found rock and parched soil. The earth opened up to them small gifts, a diamond mine, a pit of gas. They tried to till the land but with little success, reminded that they could not sever their ties to the underworld just yet.

The children were brought out and soon going up became a part of school trips and field days. They were determined to teach the young,  _that was how we lived and this is how we are living_. The drove it into their small, wide minds  _and how will we live tomorrow? As victors._

No they would not remain flitting to and fro from the nest. They would take flight and land on new plains with new skies and new constellations.

And this was how the humans resolved to annihilate the titans and take back the earth.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**TYPES OF TITANS**

The titans of the desert all varied greatly but there were some established categories, not including size:

 **'Normal' titans** : these were the most common

 **Snake-type** : these did not stand upright and moved just below the sand's surface. They were very difficult to detect.

 **Wild titans** : these were very unpredictable and often displayed strange behaviour. Regularly ignored surrounding humans

 **Irradiated titans** : these displayed visible deformities often missing arms, with malformed limbs and disfigured faces.

 **Fire titan** : this was considered the only one of its kind and was the largest of all titans. It appeared suddenly every few decades and always during the dry season. Its presence wreaked havoc in the base causing multiple underground and coal seam fires. It then promptly disappeared.

The humans soon learnt that the titans did not prey on them for food but for sport. They did not consume corpses and would discard victims as soon as they died if they hadn't swallowed them. They were known to become sluggish and immobile at night. In the notes of a combatant:

Location: outermost southern ring

_The skies dimmed and it became very cool. An unprecedented solar eclipse had begun. Soon the sun was almost completely obscured. There was a series of crashes as omirans around us gradually fell one by one like stones.  Seven minutes passed and the moon gave way to the sun. Slowly the omirans rose again and tread through the dunes once more._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism  
> Have a nice day!❀


	4. Fighting Titans in the desert

**TERRAIN AND LANDSCAPE**

To take back the land, the humans formed a band of fighters, beginning the struggle against the titans.

The region that the remaining population of the Alpha continent inhabited was vastly desert with some areas of bare rock and canyon. There were ruins of past civilisations, however, most had been either relocated to more climatically favourable areas before the nuclear war or were razed to the ground once bombarded by missiles. That is to say, there were only empty spaces.

This made fighting against titans very difficult and huge losses were sustained at first. However, they were soon able to develop an effective combat strategy centred on groundwork. Also, a small advantage in having open spaces was that most titans were easy to spot from afar.

Even so, skills were not perfect initially, and some fighters took to extreme measures such as ingesting or wearing explosives and detonating them if they were to be eaten (destroying the titan temporarily). This practice was soon phased out as skills improved and also due to the prowess of three individuals known as the Three Hunters.

 

**GROUND AND INTERNAL COMBAT**

**Ground combat**

Techniques focused first on immobilisation, where the titan would be brought down by a cut to the heel, have its joints disabled by large crossbows or both. Sometimes whole limbs were cut through for particularly active titans. Fighters would then quickly cut the nape, thereby killing the titan. This worked well for when dealing with one or two titans at a time, as crossbows were heavy and cumbersome (they were carried on the back) and had to be aimed precisely at knee or hip joints.

Catapults were also utilised but these were not effective in complete elimination. They were used for long-distance shots and to clear the perimeter around the base.

**Internal combat**

For when the numbers of titans became overwhelming, combatants often allowed themselves to be eaten or entered through other orifices such as the nose, ears or eyes. Once inside the titan, the nape was cut from within killing the titan and allowing the person to escape. For this they required basic knowledge of titan skull anatomy which was not dissimilar to that of humans. Entering through the mouth was the quickest and easiest way to access the nape. The person would remain in the larynx and then cut their way out. At all costs, falling into the stomach cavity was avoided.

Despite the insides of titans being extremely hot, temperatures were often close to the surface temperature of the sand dunes. A good amount of people also had an extremely high heat tolerance and could comfortably withstand the heat for short periods of time.

 

**ARMAMENTS AND GEAR**

Naturally all of this required a set of highly withstanding and advanced weaponry. This was no easy feat, as electromagnetic pulses following the nuclear war had rendered all the technology that wasn't destroyed useless. In addition, many had forgotten how to use whatever remained. That said, some of it was revitalised in order to create the arms needed.

For cutting titan flesh, large swords or blades were fashioned. They varied in shape and were often made in the preferred taste of the user. These swords were composed of an alloy of several hard metals edged and infused with diamond. The diamonds were obtained from a mine discovered close to the base. This made them virtually unbreakable and the soldier would not get another weapon unless it was lost which in itself was a great source of shame. Deceased soldiers' swords were given to the next round of recruits. There were strict rules surrounding sword use especially as the mine gradually became barren and diamonds were hard to obtain.

They also made use of a single grapple hook positioned on the back of one arm (on the tricep) which was used for scaling titans and then establishing a secure hold once inside them.

Another vital part of their equipment was their footwear. They wore sturdy boots suited to desert terrain, however their main use was directly in combat. One boot contained a small but powerful drill in the heel allowing quick escape into the sand. The heel of the other boot contained a propeller for a boost when scaling titans and cutting out from inside them.

Both were powered by a liquid fuel which also served as a coolant. This was obtained from a strange moss discovered in the underground caves which when grinded with water and then ignited produced an explosive power. The spark for this was created when the wearer pushed an indented button with their other foot thus driving the motor. After a certain period of use, the fuel solidified but could be reactivated on the addition of more water through a small inlet. This allowed it to be perpetually re-used and fortunately so as the moss was very rare and also toxic on exposure. The grapple hooks also used the same propellant.

 

**FIELD PRACTICES**

 

 

Combat also relied a lot on stealth and so, many ways were devised to avoid detection. Standard camouflage was often used as well as sneak attack formations. 

They also discovered that titan blood was quite effective in masking the scent of humans; soldiers often drenched themselves in it following a kill. This wasn’t a long-term measure however, as the blood evaporated quickly but it was long enough to get close to titans for scaling or cutting.

Another technique which the true mechanism behind it no one really understood, was the control of their pulse rates. Part of the little training they had, was a physical routine involving meditation which allowed some to essentially muffle the heartbeat and eliminate the pulse without any significant effect on activity.

The purpose of this was again to avoid detection. Titans did not eat the dead and they were able to recreate the effect whilst fighting. It was also useful in the event of injury where a soldier can’t move allowing them to essentially mimic a corpse. The degree of control over the pulse depended on the individual and the front line in stealth attacks was composed of those who had mastered this.

These two techniques combined made soldiers practically undetectable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism  
> Have a nice day!❀


	5. Video Timeline of major events since the Awakening

The actual timeline is on tumblr, here if you want to see it:

<https://desertbl00m.tumblr.com/post/162798995001/timeline-of-major-events-since-the-awakening>

It puts a lot of stuff to come into context, so take a look :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism  
> Have a nice day!❀


	6. Childhood

"Amazing, a male...quite large-Nina, look!" He looked down at the small girl next to him. She was cowering behind her fingers.

"N-no," she tremored, "it looks like a monster."

"Come on...he's not that bad". The Desert eagle-owl. He looked at the bird's glowing eyes... _not unlike hers._ He pried her hands away and turned her to face the bird.

"D-dad! What are you doing?" she hissed, her tiny hands clawing at his, "I'm going to get cursed." He laughed.

" _Look_ , Nina". And she did...for three whole seconds before she tore herself away and ran, howling, back down into the hatch.

He chuckled after her. Superstitions had been spiralling out of control as of late. He looked back at the bird. Its ear-tufts rose like horns against the lightening sky. He could see why it could be considered frightening. Spreading cloak-like wings, it flew away, dismal hoots echoing in the dawn.

The stones of the haven ring border condensed against the skyline. He frowned- _had it shrunk?_   Yawning, he made his way to the hatch. Another day's work in the lab waited for him and Nina needed a bath before school. "Otherwise getting her up so early would've been a waste..." He grunted, shouldering his case. It was a new school year and he wanted her to have the first bath water, before the fifty or so other kids who'd also be waiting. Water was scarce after all and she wouldn't get another one for a week at least.

At the hatch's edge, he looked back at the horizon and felt his brow tighten wearily. Titans. They broke the skyline with their hulking gaits-they looked tiny from where he stood, like dolls. He went down.

 

Nina ran on small feet to the bath house, clutching her wash bag. She had to show Kiito her new mole soap-it had a snout and everything. She bit her lip thinking of the owl. S _tupid dad_ -she’d already stuffed sand beetles and mud in his boots. She couldn’t tell Kiito or anyone. Or she’d be the one with the Eye.

She skidded to a halt at a small, squat building and banged on the stone door. A slot opened and a small, sunken mouth materialised in the light of the blinking street lamps. “Ah Maxim’s brat-yer here early.” The door heaved open and a bent women with small, snapping eyes beckoned her in. Nina trotted after her.

“Dad says he can do all the vents for cheap.”

“What are yer, a walking billboard?” She jerked off the little girl’s shoes. Nina frowned.

“Dad says you’re a stuck-in-the-mud biddy who won’t let him do his work.” The bath hut owner glowered. “They sound the same…biddy and billboard,” she blinked “what’s a billboard?”

“Shut it, yer little tyke.” She hurled her into the shallow tub.

“Nanye, can I have my soap!”

“What is it, a rat?”

“Mole!” 

The old woman tossed it to her and sighed. “How’s yer mother?”

“Coming along.” Nina winced. Some suds had gotten into her eye. "What does coming along mean?”

Nanye closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair. “It means that Dr Wep still doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing...” she muttered. “Yer got 5 minutes brat.”

“Can I wait in the cubby for Kiito?”

“Sara’s girl? Do what yer want.” Her eyes suddenly flew open. “Yer haven’t got any candles this time, have yer”

“N-nooo…”

She scowled. “Tell yer dad his payments is in the damages from last year’s little ‘adventure’. He can come by tomorrow, if he’s coming.”

She looked at the girl’s damp, white hair.  _Touched by a spirit in the womb._ All old-maid’s tales but it wasn’t natural. And Nyo had never recovered since the girl’s birth.

“Nanye,” Nina’s voice was hushed and she was crouched on the ground, “there’s a big one.” She clenched her fists in glee.

“What.” She heaved up slightly. “Give an old woman a rest will y-.” she stiffened. A snake was slowly winding itself around the legs of her chair. “Good God, Nina.” She drew up her wizened ankles “Beni! Beni!” She shrieked.

“Nanye, quiet!” Nina scowled at her. “It’s going to run.” She sidled over, still crouching. Her small hands shot out and she grabbed the snake by its tail, pulling it free from the chair.

“Good on yer kid-Beni! The hell yer think I’m waiting for? To drop dead? Yer good for nothing clod.” A large figure lumbered in.

“Alright mum, keep yer head on-phwoooaar that’s a whopper”. Beni scratched his head at the thrashing snake.

Nina grinned. “It’s a Gopher-I’m skinning it.”

“No yer not-give it here” he tugged it from her, “It ain’t venomous and I’ll bet it’ll keep the rats down.”

Nanye looked at him wearily “As long as I don’t catch sight of it. Here Nina, what business has a seven year old got with skinning snakes?”

Nina turned her back, small shoulders hunched. “Now yer sulking. Shameful, shameful. Get outta here.”

Beni chortled. “Look kid, I got some truffles and I’ll let yer pet him.” She followed him, kicking her heels. Stopping, she turned at the doorway.

“You can make armbands- for  _everyone_. Then they have to give you something back.” she sniffed deeply “I was going to make Pip give me her dad’s lady-trapper tie-.” She seemed too overwhelmed to continue and allowed Beni to tug her along.

Nanye closed her eyes again, settling back down in her chair. “Well, blow me down.” 

The rest of the lot would be here soon.

 

Nina slouched in her chair, chin buried in her chest. Kiito hadn't come to the bath hut. And her desk was empty.

"Now, kids let's see what you remember from last year..."

She hated world history.

"...there was the BIG war and everything was?"

"Destroyed!" the children all chorused.

"And there was a lot of background?"

"Radiation!"

"So the people couldn't come UP. So then began the great?"

"Poop." Nina muttered

"WAIT!" they roared.

"But then everyone became very sick with a?"

"Disease!"

"My mum's got that" they all looked at the boy who had spoken, hushed. The teacher blinked.

"Yes, Kago and she's in?

"Quarantine!"

"And then the timer went?"

"Ping!"

"Bong!"

"Owww!"

"Roda threw her slate at me!"

The teacher took off her glasses. "And what did they find when they went up." Her voice was flat.

The children fell silent.

"Titans." Nina piped. They looked at her.

"TITAAANS."

"They found omirans!"

"And they got eaten-snap!"

"And they ran crying-wheee,"

The teacher slammed her rod onto the board. They fell back into place. "Right!" she said brightly. "Now we're going to look at what kinds of things little girls and boys like you did, before the war!" she cleared her throat. "Who remembers?"

"Skiing"

"Hover-racing!"

"Bot-wrestling!"

" _Good!_  Get out your pads and draw them."

She walked around the class, watching small hands fly. There were a few empty seats. Nazou was getting a tooth removed, Evode had worms and Kiito...she frowned.  _Absent on the first day?_ She was a sickly child, quiet-like a second shadow to Were's daughter, Nina. She stopped at her desk. "Nina, what's this?"

The girl was slumped, her head thrown back, mouth open in boredom. The teacher's eyes widened at the girl's work. A bird, with fiery eyes, ridiculously well-drawn. Its beak curving wickedly. "You drew this?" Nina sat bolt upright and grabbed the drawing, scrunching it up. "Miss Haukozi, sh-shhh!" she looked around her fearfully. Miss Haukozi looked at the girl amazed. "But Nina that's brilliant-show the class!" Nina's jaw dropped in dismay.

"N-no, NO." the paper was now a tiny ball in her fists.

"Come on Nina, show us!"

"We know you want to show off."

"Show off!"

"Last time she drew the hag at the sweet shop"

"I still have it-she gave it to me for 2 truffles.'

"Nina! I'll give you a gum-ball for that one!"

Nina put her hands to her head. She was horrified. At this rate...

"Got it!"

The drawing was snatched from her hand. A boy held up the ball of paper triumphantly.

"Isach! Give it—" She scrambled after him. He ran to the front of the class, unfurling it. He stopped eyes wide, then grinned impishly.

"Oi Nina, where'd you see this?"

She was furious and terrified. "Y-you!"

His dark blue eyes sparkled. "Because-if you did-that would mean you've got the ey—". He was stopped short as a flying slate smashed into his nose.

"NINA!" Miss Hazouki gasped.

"Woooaaah Nina!"

"He's bleeding!"

"Blood!"

"There's so much-it's so red!"

"Isach, quick-come down here!"

"Can you fill my cup?"

"Children!" Miss Hazouki snapped as if coming out from a dream. This was hardly a good start to the term. She rammed a towel against the bleeding boy's face. "Quick! To the nurse—"

She turned. "Now Nina! You are in big tr—"

But Nina had gone.

Miss Haukozi sighed and walked back to the girl's desk. Nina had left behind the rest of her drawings. She leafed through them. A dark expanse, flames, mushroom clouds. She closed her eyes wearily. These were too good, too vivid.  _How could a girl so young capture the chaos and terror from such a long time ago?_

She came to the last drawing and her hands began to shake. Jaws, teeth, people being ripped apart and devoured. Titans, their faces so real, so detailed. She clenched the paper and gripped her head.  _Where-where had she seen this...?_

"Miss?"

"Mm?"

"I need to go pee."

Tonight she would speak with Maxim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


	7. Inject

"Your family's been making these vaccines for how many years now?"

Maxim looked up from his lab bench. The dust-covered man watching him was Set Hosef, a life-long friend, practically an older brother.

"Over a hundred years." He sighed, assembling needles "My great-great grandmother was one of those who first developed it."

"You were always the techy ones."

He raised an eyebrow. "There were plenty besides us. They're dying out...slowly." He started assembling the next batch. "This isn't fast enough" he discarded a needle that had pierced his flesh. "What with the synthesiser bot seizuring and the PCR machine down..." He exhaled. "52 really set us back. It's been over 40 years dammit."

"Ah, the year Giza."

"We should've recovered tenfold by now."

"Well they did restore about half the turbines." Set rubbed his gums. "But they were afraid, are afraid, what with fire titan popping up every odd 20 years. What point is there in rebuilding only to have it burnt or trampled to the ground?"

Maxim frowned deeply. The turbines and panels were not easy to make at all. Manufacture was especially slow as machinery relied on man power. He pinched the skin between his eyes. He and one other man were quite literally the only ones who could operate the circuit boards in the whole metropolis. The rest had died in past havoc wreaked by the fire titan or of old age.

"With thinking like that, we'll only regress-it's not enough just to fight the titans-we have to branch out, contact other humans-"

"You're still trying that?' Set looked at him, bemused. "Well? Anything?"

He laughed hollowly. "I haven't even been able to get up a proper radio aerial. The range is awful...and who says any other survivors even have anything left to detect a signal with?"

"They'd be struggling against titans, like us I assume."

"If they haven't been eaten already."

Set raised his eyebrows 'Well, that is more likely-'

"Imagine that-Imagine we're the only ones left." Maxim's voice was dull "and I'm tinkering like a fool trying to reach out to corpses and bones."

"Maxim."

"Sorry. How was last night's excursion?"

"Nothing special. We were only testing how far we could get north. There were plenty of the dozing bastards-killed them all. No rings though."

"Mm. Good. The more we get rid of the quicker we can take back what's ours."

"When are you coming back-it'd be faster with you."

Maxim smiled wryly. "Not yet. Not with Nyo the way she is...but soon. I've got to get some action before they're all gone, haven't I?"

Set nodded approvingly. Were was as skilled a fighter as he was a scientist. In his youth he had been hailed as the Black Hunter incarnate, Ras Bruch.

"Isach came home early with a bloody nose." Set pulled off his turban.

"What."

"Absolutely mortified." He chuckled. "Seems like it's the handiwork of your girl."

Maxim sighed. "What's the damage like?'

"Oh nothing he can't endure. It's his pride that's in tatters."

"I'll speak with her," he loaded the syringes into cases "and she can forget the party next week."

"Now, now don't be too harsh. She'll only hate you, especially because you weren't there. I'll wager Isach asked for it one way or the other."

He smiled wearily. "I suppose she'll go for my shirts next". He swore something was still wriggling in his left boot.

There was a knock. A thin, wrung-out man appeared in the door way. He was clad in a baggy, opaque body suit, its masked hood down. "Noon, Maxim, Hosef."

"Ah, Dr Wep. You've just come from Nyo, haven't you?" Maxim shifted around. "Is she-"

"Small improvement." the doctor's face was tight but he smiled thinly. "I doubt she'll have another turn like last year."

Maxim nodded, his throat clenching. Last year his wife had almost been taken by a fever.

"I've come for the vaccines. It seems some are nearing the end in the Q-Zone 3...'

Set lowered his head. "Kago's mother?"

"Hardly anything of her left-limbs all gone-any longer and her organs will start disappearing."

Maxim looked down bitterly. "What is this, euthanasia?"

"There's always been a small chance-"

"What-that they  _might_  survive? This shouldn't be called a vaccine-it's a mercy shot- you can count on your fingers the amount of people who have actually been cured."

'And what else can we do?' Wep said quietly.

Maxim slammed the lid on the case of needles.

Set rose. "They want bodies on any account. They think the owners can't cross over without one."

Maxim had turned away. He started decanting something.

"Right doc. How about you come down later for a drink when you're done stabbing people." Set handed him the case.

"Y-yes. Thank you."

"Give your wife and girl a rest, ay? Kiito's got to learn how to stand on her own feet." He thumped him on the back as they left the lab.

_Like father, like daughter..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism  
> Have a nice day!❀


	8. Seeds

“Kiito. You said it wrong-say it again.” Nina pulled the girl’s face closer to the shiny, laminated pages. “It’s Pen-ga-win. Penguin…then see ref-reference for synth-e-t-i-cally produced cousin, the Pengpuff-puffin.” She exhaled laboriously.

“We shouldn’t have skipped to P.” Kiito blinked huge, doe-like eyes. She touched the bright photos. “I wish there were some here.”

“What?”

“Pengawins.”

“Oh, they’d die.”

“Why!”

“It’s too hot for them. They live on snow.”

“Snow?”

“It’s like cold, wet sand…that’s what dad said.”

“Your dad sure is smart. Did he give you the encyclo-cyclo-“

“Encyclopaedia.” Nina grinned proudly. “No- _I_   found it. When we went to the abandoned vaults.”

Kiito’s eyes were wistful. She looked down at her smaller friend. “Nina why are you at my house?”

Nina suddenly stiffened. “Where are your brothers?” She whispered.

“Don’t worry, they all went to the tavern after coming back from last night.”

“Oohh…good.” She relaxed. “Did they get a lot?”

“I-I think so…Hali said there was a huge one sleeping with its mouth open and he went in and he sliced through—”

“That’s dumb. It could’ve gone chomp and cut him in half.”

“O-oh!” Kiito clutched her knees. Nina was always like this. She just said things, anything. Kiito smiled. But she liked it. She wished she could-

“He should’ve just gone for the neck,  _skeerch_ , then on to the next.”

“Yes, I suppose…” She drew up her legs. “Nina do you want to become a fighter?”

“No…”

“Are you scared?”

“I don’t know.” Nina's face became perplexed. “I haven’t seen one up close.”

“E-everyone’s going up tomorrow-to the Blue ring. You might see then.”

“We haven’t ever gone to that one yet. Are you coming? You better come this time.”

Kiito heaved a small sigh. “What do you want to do, Nina? When you’re big…”

“Pilot.” She held up the encyclopaedia. “And I’m going to fly this.”

The taller girl frowned worriedly. “But there are no more planes…”

Nina’s eyes glittered “Shhh…my dad’s making one for me.”

Kiito’s hands flew to her cheeks. “No way!”

“That’s what he said…if I’m good but—” her brow furrowed, “if he finds out about Isach…”

“What happened to Isach?”  

Nina tossed her head. “He  _jeop-o-radised_  me. I gave him what he deserved.” She looked at Kiito-her large eyes were very wide. “What?” She pouted. “He was being a  _clod_.”

“Is that why you’re hiding here?”

“Hmm? No…I’m not hiding.”

“But you came in through the window…”

“Kiito do  _you_  want to fight?”

She gasped. “U-uh I-I think so…but I probably can’t.” She lowered her head. “I’m always like this.”

“You will. If you really want to, you will.” Nina closed the encyclopaedia. “It’s home time now-I’m going. Tomorrow I’m coming to get you. I don’t care if you have a bug-I’ll give you a piggy back-we have to see them. You won’t know if you want to fight unless you see one.”

“O-ok…yes.”

“See you!”

Kiito watched her swing herself out the window and run down the dim streets, white curls flying.

“Yes.”

 

_**FUSES FOR ENOFE, GET USED BULBS FROM FOLA AND TAKE PRESSURE POT TO SOPHIA** _

 

Nina squinted up at the note on their apartment door. She huffed and strained on tiptoes to take it down. “Silly dad…you always put it too high…” her fingers finally snagged the paper and turned it over.

_**and give a kiss to mom** _

 

She folded the note and shrugged off her knapsack. Pulling out the encyclopaedia, she slid it between the back leaves, with all the others from the past year _. Right._  With a small grunt, she heaved open the small trapdoor under the doormat. She pulled out the box containing the items to be delivered and shoved her knapsack in in its place.

Securing the box’s strap across her body, she took off in a steady trot towards the high-street. She looked up as she ran, at the dark, nobbled ceiling peppered with piercing fluorescent orbs. She frowned _…she wasn’t good at drawing lights yet…_

“Nina, look out!”

She ducked instinctively, skidding to a halt as a large beam whizzed over her head. A short, stocky man put down the plank of wood and leaned against his shop door. “Afternoon, Nina-you got my fuses?”

She bounced back up. “Yes.” She pulled the package out. “Here.” Hoisting the box, she hurried away again.

Enofe looked after the tiny girl. “G’bye Nina!”

He could only see her trotting legs underneath the box. She didn’t turn back.

“Goodbye!”

 

“Really, wasting water on these things-you can’t even eat them…”

Two women sat on a bench. They held baskets and flasks. Light fell on them from thin slits of thick glass in the ceiling. They were at the highest point in the base, just below the surface. Around them were countless terracotta pots overflowing with feathery, blue flowers.

“Oh quiet Sophia, Nyo deserves this-it’s the least they can give her after all she’s done for us.”

“What good will they do her, Sara.”

“She loves them. She always has-remember when we were young…she found that botany book from before the war and was absolutely smitten.”

“Oh, yes and then she went and tried to grow them.”

Sara laughed. “She failed miserably…at first.”

“Well what did she expect what with here being a desert for miles? And the compost we’ve got is only suitable for root veggies…”

“But she made it happen, one way or the other,” Sara smiled remembering, “then Maxim built her this place…”

“Aah, so that’s how he got her to marry him.”

Sara sighed. “She did everything wonderfully…even killing  _them_.”

Sophia nodded. “Now that’s what she was good at. When she fought…it was as if she was dancing.”

“Her, Maxim and Abe, the Three Hunters of our time…Oh…Nina.”

“Hello, dear.”

“Hi.” Nina held up a fat copper pot. “It’s fixed and you can do lentils and chips at the same time now.”

“Oh! Thank you honey.”

“Go on to your mother now.”

“Mm.”

 

Nina pushed the door of the small, oddly-shaped building.

She put her hands to her face and her eyelids lowered slightly. Her mother’s chamber never ceased to take her breath away. Creeping tendrils with starry peach-coloured blossoms engulfed the walls and the floor was covered in pots of every size, spilling countless plants and shrubs. She crouched down for a bit, inhaling the heady scent. Her head felt light and she pressed her fingers against her eyes.

“Nina?”

Nina sprang up and rushed down the short hallway to where the voice had come from. She stopped short at the doorway. The room was filled with light. They came from several large, telescope-mirror periscopes embedded in the walls, bringing in reflected sunlight from the surface.

A slight, pale woman with dark, tumbling hair lay on a low bed. “Come here,” She held open her arms, “don’t worry it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Nina nodded and fell into her mother’s embrace. For a while she was still then she reached up and placed her hands on Nyo’s forehead. “What about here?” Nyo winced.

“That was really bad last night…but now it feels good.” She ran her fingers through her daughter’s tangled curls. “What a mess.” She breathed into her hair. “Let me get it out of the way.”

“Ok.” Nina slid off the bed and helped her mother get up. Nyo patted her lap. “Sit.” Her fingers drew out a thin section of hair and began to braid. Nina grimaced as her hair was tugged by its roots but only pressed her lips together. She wouldn’t make a sound…not a sound…

“There. The front’s all braided up. Now it won’t fall into your eyes…you can draw better that way.”

“Yes.” Nina breathed out, unclenching her fists. “Can I water the red ones?”

“Mm-hmm, the jug’s by the tap.”

She watched her disappear back into the hall. Her hand moved to her brow.  _When…when would she be able to be a real mother…?_

“It has a crack.” Nina returned. Nyo looked at her. Amber-orange eyes, just like Maxim…no there was something a little different, something more impassive, detached as if she was always looking over your head.

Nina plonked herself in front of the crimson ferns. “Tomorrow we’re going to the Blue ring.”

“Oh…” Nyo’s eyes focused. “The northern one?”

“Umm…yes. We’re going to see titans.”

Nyo let herself fall back. “You haven’t seen one?”

“Fourteen times,” Nina shuffled to the next pot, “But they were all really far.”

“Do…do you want to?”

“Yes.”

Nyo bit her lip.  _Did she want to fight? They always taught them early._ She covered her eyes _…too early…they’d be recruiting in 3 years…_

“Nina don’t go tomorrow.” She made her voice bright. “You can stay with me the whole day, Sara’s going to bring over stew…you can plant these…” Her hands reached under her pillow sliding out a packet of rose seeds.

“Oh…!” Nina stopped and turned. She came to Nyo’s side and held her face. Pulling her down, she planted a kiss on her forehead. “That’s from dad.” She turned her head slightly. “And this one’s from me.” Nyo felt her breath snag as small lips brushed her cheek-she couldn’t speak. Tears began to stream down her face. Nina blinked then her brow furrowed worriedly. “Did it hurt?”

Nyo suddenly gripped her close, wrapping her arms around as if forming a cocoon. She felt as if her heart was going to split. Her grip tightened.

She had to become strong again, she had to fight…she drew back, inhaling raggedly and looked into her daughter’s eyes _…so that you won’t have to._

“No,” her voice was a barely a whisper. “No. It didn’t hurt.” She smiled. “Now it’s mom’s turn.” She pressed her lips onto the small, still furrowed brow. She would fight again…for a world where Nina could run and run without a single fear…

“What are these?” Nina had picked up the seed packet.

“Roses.”

“Can I plant them?”

Nyo blinked, then sighed, smiling. “Go on. There’s a pot under the bed.”

She watched as Nina began to sift compost. “ _Good_. You remembered not to pack it.”

“Mm.” Nina bore a little hole in the middle and dropped a seed in.

Nyo reached under her pillow once more and pulled out a small vial containing a yellow powder. “Give.” Nina handed her the pot.

“What’s that? It smells.”

“It’s sulphur. Don’t breathe it in.” she tapped the bottle, smattering the powder over the dark soil. “This will help it grow.”

“Oh.” Nina took the pot back and covered it with another layer of compost. “Shall I put it with the red ones?”

“Yes.” She felt her eyes beginning to close. She was going to end these seven years of limbo…of weakness…

She would take up the hunt once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism  
> Have a nice day!❀


	9. Succession

Maxim slid the latch home on the lab’s door. He fumbled with the padlock; Nyo was waiting for him. He clenched his jaw-today he would try and give her the new pills; a revised formula…it would help with the fatigue at least.

“Evening Maxim, can I have a moment?” Maxim turned. It was Nina’s class teacher. He blinked.

“Yes of course.” he ran his hand over his head. “Oh God-I heard already. I’m so sorry about what Nina did. She-“

“No, no,” Miss Hakouzi waved him down, almost irritably. Reaching in her bag, she took out the drawing. “Have you seen this?”

Maxim frowned at the picture. “No.” He took it from her “Nina did this?”

“Yes.” she held her breath.

His frown deepened. “She hasn’t even seen one properly…let alone this.”

“Exactly…w-where…” her voice was weary, “I-I don’t think she should go up tomorrow.”

“No.”

Miss Hakouzi breathed a sigh of relief.

“She will.”

“What!?”

“This is part of who we are.” He folded the drawing carefully and looked at her. “I can’t take away that right from her. Otherwise how will she know truly what we’re fighting for, what we’re dying for?”

Miss Hakouzi was speechless.

“You haven’t been the same, have you? Not since your brother died.” his voice was gentle.

Her hand flew to her mouth. 

“When Eni? When did you become so afraid?” he took her hand and closed her fingers around the folded paper. “I think…Nina would want you to have this.”

He turned and walked away, towards the great staircase. She turned away from his ascending back and put a fist to her mouth. “Ropo,” she whispered, looking up at the false stars, “have I become…a coward?”

 

He moved stray strands of hair from her face. “You’ve improved.” He murmured. Her pale, hazel eyes reflected the dim light from his lamp.

Nyo fingered the creases in her thin coverlet. “How’s this month’s water been holding out?”

“Could be better.” He tipped the pills into the mortar and began to crush them; she could only take them in water.

“They’re not increasing divisions? They should allow one more branch on the main pipe at least.”

“AQ will never do it. We’re lucky they overlooked the one I set up here. You and Nanye are the only ones with independent faucets in our faction.”

She sighed. Water was always an issue…even with the underground rivers. They did not run with ordinary water and any taken from them needed a lengthy purification process. After this there was hardly anything left. Of the wells, only one remained intact since the last onslaught from the fire titan.

Maxim tipped the powder into a tumbler of water. She cast a stricken glance at it-this was her sixth glass. Most people could only spare two glasses to drink per day…

“If only we could find another oasis,” he lifted her head and she drank. “Do you remember?” he whispered, “the one we found nine years ago…” She closed her eyes in pain and he felt his chest twinge. He cleared his throat. “There’s rain due in a few months….or so the hags say…”

She opened her eyes and moved his hand from her nape, taking hold of it. “It’ll probably be a storm…have you been to the chief?” He looked down at her. “No…but I mean to soon,” he pressed his fingers to his temples. “I want to check on the antibodies, just in case a new strain appears…” She sighed.

“What does he do all day…holed up in that big, old hut-doesn’t he get sick of it?” She bit her lip. “Doesn’t he want to come out, go up…”

“Well he is over a hundred now…”

“I shouldn’t be here,” she whispered, “I should be with you, with Nina-why-why did I stay here…?”

His eyebrows shot up. “You hated it down there!-you couldn’t breathe-you needed the plants…when we moved you up here permanently, you improved…you…” he tailed off as her hand’s grip tightened.

“Take me back down.”

“You-you can’t-” bewildered, he looked at her eyes…they were clear, unclouded.

“I’m done, Maxim…I’m done being an invalid,” her voice was resolved. He blinked. “What…are you-”

“I have to be there…for Nina.” She took his hand and placed it on her brow. “Look.” It was smooth…cool.

His hands shook in her firm grip.  _What…what…? Was this-?_

She smiled up at him then suddenly pushed him away. She struggled up.

“Nyo! What are you-?”

She rose, tottering. He caught her. “Nyo!” She was breathing hard, and her cheeks were flushed. He held her face… _but not with fever…_

She caught her breath. “If you won’t take me…” she panted, “I’ll go myself.” She tried to slip out from his grasp.

He felt shock and wonder course through him. “W-wait! I’ll take you…I’ll take you.” He drew her up in his arms and she let her knees buckle.

Her breathing had slowed by the time he was walking down the countless, jagged steps…she had fallen asleep.

 _Nyo…what happened._  All of a sudden, he felt a surging joy _…what changed…_ he looked down at her sleeping face and he thought how extraordinarily beautiful she was. He tightened his arms around her.

“Welcome back.”

 

They huddled at the bottom of the steps to the hatch’s opening. The air was thick with excited murmurs and whispers. Miss Hakouzi adjusted her glasses. “Back in your pairs, kids. Come on!”

“Eni! Bring them up!” the woman silhouetted in the square of light beckoned.

“Alright!” She ushered them up, touching each head as she counted.  _16 pairs._  They ascended into the blinding sun.

“Wooooooo.”

“Look! Look!’

“LOOOOK!”

“There they are!” They jumped and threw up their hands. The dark figures hulked in the distance.

“I’ve already seen them.”

“Shut up.”

“Everyone has.”

“Butt!”

“Camel-face!”

“Miss!”

“Miss, are we going to see one up close?” Miss Hakouzi looked down, dazed.  “M-maybe…right! Line up!” They rearranged themselves, small feet stirring up the sand.

“You all seem lively.” A tall, rugged man emerged from the hatch. He was flanked by another two men.

“Abe…”

“Eni.” He turned to his men. ‘Kobe you will return with me and Sola after they’ve been dropped. Hali, you’ll stay with them until they’re ready.”

“Roger!”

He placed a hand on the hilt of the huge sword at his side. “Let’s move.”

The Blue ring was about three quarters of a mile north. The children travelled in a crocodile formation. Kobe was at the back. Sola and Hali were on either side of the centre of the line. He walked at the front. They were now fully in the open, out of the safety of the haven rings.

Abe narrowed his eyes against a shower of sand. But the threat wasn’t as large as it seemed. The perimeter around the rings were almost always clear of titans-the No-go zone. It was when a human stepped out that they began to congregate. Even so, if they moved fast, they’d make it to the other ring just fine-the Base ring and Blue ring No-go zones were separated by just a few metres. He looked down at the schoolteacher beside him. Ropo’s little sister. Her knuckles cracked as she wrung her hands.

The circle of stones appeared before them. It was a small ring about 40 metres in diameter. “Right we’re in. Headcount.”

Miss Hakouzi nodded and counted the children as they crossed the border. She froze. “Nina! Where-?!”

“Here!” she bobbed up behind her.

“In line.” She said sharply. Nina scurried into place.

Abe turned to Hali. “Call me when they’re done.” He held up a walky-talky.

“Understood.”

Hali turned back to the group. The children watched him, eyes wide. He scratched his head. “What are you all waiting for?” he sat himself down on the sand, near the ring’s edge. “Knock yourselves out.”

“ALRIGHHTTT!”

“Yeeeaaaaaa!”

Their shouts and laughter rang through the air. He grinned to himself. It felt like yesterday when he had been brought to a ring for the first time. He watched them tumble.

He heard the shuffle of small feet. A girl had come near him. She crouched down in front of one of the stones and placed her hands on it, squeezing. The pillar crumbled under her fingers, then swooped back into itself. He saw her eyes become huge in shock. He chuckled-he had done exactly the same.

“Kiito! Come look at this!” She was clutching her hair and stamping her tiny feet. “It went back…it went back!” A taller girl came and huddled next to her. “What?” Nina took her hand and placed it on the pillar. “It runs away from your fingers! Then it goes back!”

“It does!”

“Wait!” she aimed a kick through its centre.

“Oi, kid,” he got up, “come on, go back to everyone else. It’s bad luck to break the stones.” It wasn’t really-just soldier’s superstition. But still the captain’s orders were to keep them concentrated in the middle. This ring was smaller than the others and titans gathered more quickly around its No-go zone.

She looked up at him, mouth open. “Did you see that?! Did you see? It went back!”

“Yeah, sure did-go on now.” he nudged her towards the others. The other girl went after her then took her hand. “Come on, Nina…I think they found a lizard nest. Miss Hazouki says we can take any eggs home.”

He watched them go back. A swooping wind whipped up the sands around them. The children yelled in protest, annoyance. He spat. A sandstorm? Squinting through the sudden flurry, he licked two fingers and held them up. No, the gale wasn’t strong enough. He fell back on his elbows as the sands began to settle once more.

“There’s one!” he stiffened.

“Aah there’s one!”

“Where?!”

“Right there!” he scrambled up and rushed to the other side of the ring. He frowned,  _from the south?_

“Omiran!’

“It’s an Omiran!”

“A titan!”

It was slightly hunched, arms thrown forward. It turned its head and looked at them. Hali tensed. It began to lumber towards the ring. The children gripped each other in small groups, their eyes fixed on the creature.

“It’s coming here.”

“It’s coming.”

“To us!”

“Will it eat us?”

“No…the ring stupid”

“We’re in the ring.”

“It can’t come in.”

He watched it with narrowed eyes. It teetered on the edge of the No-go zone. It advanced. He gawped.  _What._

The tremors of its footsteps suddenly became audible.  _It’s still coming…_ he watched in horror _. Now…now…it’ll stop now….now!_  His hands clutched at his sword. It was now within 5 metres of the border.

“It’s too close-GET BACK!” he roared. They huddled into the centre bewildered, shaking.

 _Why…_ his heart was spasming.  _Why was it this close?_  It cocked its head to the side and took another huge step forward. Abruptly, it was jerked back by the neck as if by an invisible force and he felt relief swamp him. He fumbled for the walky-talky. “C-Captain,” he stammered. “Do you read?”

“Loud and clear.” There was a resounding crash. Hali jumped. He turned to see the captain rising up out of a small hatch, a few metres away from him.  _W-what_. “It seems there’s another hatch in the Blue ring.” Abe dusted himself off as Sola appeared, following up behind him. “It’s a tunnel-connects to the base.”

“O-oh.”

“We thought we might as well clear a blocked cave and here we are.”  Abe stood before him. Hali gawped.  _There’s no way he found it by chance…he knew about it…_

“Sola-see to the kids.”

The captain came to stand beside him. “What’s its deal?” He tilted his chin towards the heaving titan.

“It came within three metres of the ring’s border.” He gulped.

“Oh?” Abe shifted on his feet, “Got ourselves a curious one, have we?”

He looked at the group of children clustered behind them. He unsheathed his sword.

“Captain!?”

“This is what they came here for, right?” He walked along the circumference and placed one foot outside the ring. “I’ll give them something worth their journey.”

“Sir!”

“Look Hali, half those children are tomorrow’s fighters. I’m giving them a taste of the lives they will be living…besides this one got too close-it needs to go.”

He walked briskly, putting a distance of at least 10 metres between him and the ring. The titan was still for a split second then it rushed towards him in a thundering gallop, enormous hands flailing. He waited.

As it was about to enclose him, his blade ripped through the air in a wide arc. Both its hands went flying. It roared and stopped short for a moment, arms raised. He went for its leg next, grunting as he pushed to cut through the trunk-like shin. His blade sliced through and the titan fell like a pillar, crashing to the sand. He leapt on to its back, and ran along its spine towards the head. It struggled up on its arms and he drove his blade into its nape, levering it almost flat then twisting as he cut out a metre wide cone of flesh. It shuddered then fell flat underneath him.

He held his sword up to the sun and watched the blood already beginning to evaporate. Leaping down, he strode through the sand back towards the ring. He looked at their faces.

Some were terrified. Some were shining in awe. He looked at a taller boy whose face was an oasis of calm. Isach Hosef-he’d definitely be recruiting. A trembling girl twisted her hands near the front, but her wide eyes were determined. Wep’s daughter, he frowned.  _Well, you never know…_ his eyes came to rest on Nina. Her expression was blank and she gazed past him at the titan’s corpse. He saw her fingers curl as if she were holding something.

“Come on kids, in we go…” Sola ushered them down the hatch. Miss Hakouzi stopped. “Nina?”

Nina didn’t move. She kept on staring. Abe looked at her. “Hey kid, what are you doing? Your teacher’s waiting.”

“Sshh.” She flicked her gaze to him momentarily, annoyed. Then her fingers uncurled and she breathed out a sigh. “There, now I’ve got it.” she murmured and turned.

He looked after her, bemused. “Kid. Wait. What were you doing looking as if you were gonna pop?”

She looked up at him as if he was an idiot. “If I don’t get it inside my head, I can’t draw it, can I? Now it’s for keeps.” She trotted down.

He shook his head. Most children, adults even would be eager to forget such a sight. Hell, there were things he never wanted to see again…but she had chosen to memorise, internalise it. What was Were teaching the girl? He sighed.  _Nyo’s child…_  she didn’t look much like she could hold her own anyway, too small…no she would not make a good soldier, not with her head in the clouds…

 


	10. Kindle

Maxim heaved the two and a half metre pole into its slot. On its other end were three long blades. A wind turbine. He’d finally gotten the go ahead to erect them around the Base ring’s perimeter. He grimaced under the relentless sun.

Even so they wouldn’t last once the ring went down in about a few weeks. Everyone would have to remain below the surface as the titans roamed above them once again.  _But this time it would be different…_  He smiled drily. The turbines were designed to fall under a hinge mechanism undergoing next to no damage. Once the ring came back they could be re-erected easily.

A combatant band was congregated on the far side of the ring. Abe stood tall amongst them. They were preparing for an expedition to chart new rings, gain new territory. Maxim raised a hand in salute. He raised his in return then turned to a tall, slim girl. Lindia Were, Maxim’s niece. 

She was an orphan-both parents had died fighting…his brother’s child. He sighed and passed a hand over his neck. The girl was almost blind yet she fought as one of the most skilled soldiers. She came towards him. “Uncle.”

“Lindia, how are you-the specs any good?”

She shook her head. “I came to return them actually.” Her pale eyes were unfocused, looking just past him. She held out a visor. He took it from her, pocketing it. He would never stop being amazed by her aptitude.  _How…_  he’d asked her time and again _…what can you see?_  

_Colours_ she said  _colours…_

It should have been impossible for her to even think of picking up a sword. “Their thunder,” she had told them “I can feel tremors.” Well yes, anyone could hear the crashing steps of an approaching titan but she was able to fine tune them in a way no one could. This was apparent in all the tests he’d done with her. He’d drop a needle in one corner of the room. “Something small…thin, a toothpick…?” It was a large room-she was on the other side. “…No…its metal.” Her head had not turned.

He had nodded, dumbfounded. Somehow she was converting the vibrations around her into an image in her brain. Combining this with her impeccable reflexes, she was as apt as any one of them…no, better.

“Oh Nina,” Lindia shifted her gaze slightly. Maxim turned to see Nyo and Nina rising up out the hatch. He shook his head in wonder. She told people apart not by their faces, but by the angle of their gait, the weight of their steps.

 

His eyes fell on Nyo. It had been about a month since she’d asked him to bring her down. Her recovery, although not even half complete, had astonished and overjoyed him. He still couldn’t quite believe it. She smiled as she came forward. Nina followed holding on to a long tassel from Nyo’s bag. “Hello, Lindia.”

“Aunt Nyo.” she hadn’t heard her footsteps for a long time. Nyo placed a hand on her head.

“How’s it going?”

“The usual.” Lindia swallowed, fingering a milky stone pendant at her throat, “you’re better?”

“Getting there.” 

 Lindia stepped away. “I’ve got to get back.”

“Of course, dear.”

Nyo watched her return. “Well,” she smacked the base of her hand against the turbine, “how many are going up?”

“About twenty today along this quadrant.” Maxim looked at the large sword strapped to her back, rising behind her. He frowned. “What’s that for?”

She laughed. “Can’t shake it, I suppose…don’t worry it’s just a habit-I’m not that desperate to see a titan after seven years.” He sighed. A hunter’s sword was like a third arm.

“Where are you going now?”

“There’s a new ring down south, isn’t there?”

“The Bush ring? Yes…”

Her eyes sparkled. “I’ve heard some interesting things…if the rumours are right, I want to take Nina to see something.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I doubt there’ll be anything-any new plants would’ve shrivelled up by now…”

“Ah-you don’t know that.” She held up a finger. He looked down at her. Her skin was still pale, its familiar golden hue not yet restored.

“Dad! You’re making us late…” Nina looked up at him, her voice reproachful. He crouched down and flicked her gently on the head.

“Heey!”

“Alright.” The Bush ring was close, even closer than the Blue ring. He put a hand to Nyo’s cheek. “Don’t push yourself.” She put her hand over his.

“Roger that…come on, Nina.”

Nyo looked up at the cloudless sky. She breathed in the heat and let the sand crackle in her lungs.  _Seven years…_

They passed the group of soldiers and they bowed their heads, nodded in recognition, respect. She smiled ruefully.  _Old legends die hard._  “Abe..!” She stopped and raised her hand. He looked at her, eyes wide then nodded, turning away.

She took Nina’s hand and they stepped out of the ring. Their eyes followed her and she wanted to turn and laugh and shout. She drew Nina close to her. The dunes shifted.

“I’m back.”

 

The sand pulled back wispy fingers revealing the Bush ring. Its stones were short and squat, forming an oval rather than a circle.

“Right-in we go!” Nyo took hold of Nina’s hands and made her leap into the ring. She laughed delightedly and Nyo beamed. Nina rarely laughed. She stopped to catch her breath-the familiar ache passed fleetingly through her bones and her head pulsed momentarily.  _Alright don’t get ahead of yourself_ …she closed her eyes for a few seconds.

If the Blue ring was small, the Bush ring was tiny, as was characteristic of all new rings-it would grow gradually as the weeks went by.

“Mom…” Nina’s voice was mournful, “they’re all dead.” Close to the centre of the ring was a cluster of rough, dry balls, similar to tumble weed. Nina crouched near them. “And there’s no roots…” she pulled on her cheeks in frustration. Nyo walked over to her and smiled down at the exasperated little face. “It looks that way, doesn’t it?”

She slid off her sword and placed it on the ground. Her breath still came in snatches-she had forgotten how heavy it was.  _No, I’m just not strong enough…yet._

She took one of the dry balls in her hands. “Watch, Nina.” From her bag she took out a bottle of water. She poured a stream of water into the dead plant’s centre, then placed it on the floor. “Watch.” The ball turned dark with moisture, collapsing in on itself. Suddenly, it unfurled, bursting out and blossoming its dull fronds lightening into a deep green.

Nina’s mouth fell open. “What-what…WHAT!” She leapt forward and put her face right up to the uncurling plant. “M-mom…it’s alive?” Her fists opened and closed. Nyo laughed. “Come on! Let’s do the rest!” And soon they were surrounded by rough, blooming orbs of emerald.

They settled down to watch them open. Nina had become hushed and sat clutching her knees, her eyes drinking in the small spheres of life around her. Nyo watched her, heart full _…this…this is how it’s supposed to be_. She tucked a stray curl back from Nina’s brow. Nina looked up. “What are they called?”

“Anastatica.” Nina frowned and rolled her tongue. No, she wouldn’t try and say it just yet…

“You know, these are called roses as well…”

“But…they’re so rough and round and  _spiky_ …”

“The rose of the desert…”

Nina pursed her lips. “That’s dumb-who said that?”

Nyo suppressed a chuckle…“I suppose they were all silly people.” Silly, romantic people with romantic notions… _not far off from me…_

 

“Mom….look.” Nina pointed, eyes wide. Nyo sat up. Three titans stood far out ahead of them. For a second she felt her chest jolt then was immediately calm again. She narrowed her eyes. They weren’t very close and didn’t seem to be advancing. They were small, the largest barely three and a half metres. Nina drew closer to her. “Last time, it came right up,” she whispered her eyes fixed on them. Nyo frowned but remained unruffled.

“Don’t worry, ignore them,” she turned back to the blooms. “Now we’ll take clippings.”

She looked back at Nina. “Look you cut it at an angle like this…” Nina looked into her face for a second. She found reassurance then came to crouch beside her. “Let me!” Nyo watched her shoulders visibly relax.

She handed her the cutters. Her hand moved to the walky-talky on her hip. The only problem now was getting home-they were stranded that’s all… She’d have to give them a call when they were ready to leave. She sighed  _still a burden…but no-one should die fighting these…_ she threw a glance back at the titans- two of them stood close together the other a little further off from them _…they’re tinies…_ she turned back to the Anastatica.

The wind plummeted and the air was suddenly still.

“O-oh-oh,” Nina fell to the floor. Nyo looked up.

The ring. It had vanished.

 

Nyo felt a crippling horror wash over her.  _No…no…stop…stop it…_ she couldn’t breathe.

The titans’ heads snapped round. Even from here she saw their mouths part into gruesome smiles.  _Oh God….oh God…_ she pulled Nina to her. She had completely frozen, her eyes stretched impossibly wide, her arms hanging limply by her sides. Nyo’s hands fumbled for the walky-talky. Her fingers slipped on the buttons.

“Maxim! Do you read…Maxim? Maxim…?” It crackled  _….he doesn’t have his…he doesn’t carry it anymore…he doesn’t have it_ …“Maxim…” she choked “…Maxim…Do you read….someone, anyone…oh Maxim…” She was sobbing now… _I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe…_

The titans were moving slowly, lurching forward. The three had come together now and they advanced, a deadly trio. She felt the bile rise in her throat. The walky-talky spat.

“Nyo!”

“…Abe? Abe!” She gripped it, hands quaking, “the ring-the ring….! It’s gone…”

“Nyo! Where are you?!”

“They’re coming…oh they’re coming Abe…”

“Nyo! Listen we’ll come and get you-which ring!?”

“B-bush. The Bush ring but-” she bit her fist… _you won’t come in time…_

“How many?”

“Th-three.”

“Can you tunnel?”

“No, I haven’t got my boots…oh God…”

“We’ve got the jeep! We’re coming!”  _The jeep…?_

“W-where are you?”

“Just beyond the Blue ring-we’re coming Nyo, do you hear?”

Her eyes widened- _the jeep…they could still make it…at the pace the titans were moving now…they could still…_ She caught her head.

“Abe…”

“Where are they now?” his voice was strained.

“Th-they’re slow…but they’re still coming…they’re still…”

“Get rid of your pulse for now.”

“But Nina! She can’t-she doesn’t know how-”

She heard him growl in frustration. “Burrow…try burrow under the sand…you might have to subdue her…”

“What…!”

“Cover her-try shield her with your body…damn it…damn it!”

She gripped Nina. Her eyes were bulging, unseeing. She was barely breathing.

“Listen Nyo, I’m coming to get you ok…OK?”

“Ok…Abe…” She held the walky-talky to her lips.  _So useless…I’m so useless like this…I can’t fight…I can’t protect Nina…_

“Nyo! Stay on the line!-where are they now?!”

“They’re closer…” She couldn’t even judge the distance; she covered her mouth…

The wind plunged once more. The titans froze.

Nyo gasped… _the ring? Was the ring coming up again?_

“Abe! They sto-” Her eyes met those of the largest of the three titans. Her heart turned to stone.

Suddenly they threw themselves forward and began tearing towards them. The walky-talky fell into her lap.

“Nyo?! Wha-” She cut the connection.

“It’s over now,” she whispered. She should’ve known _…the small ones always move fastest…_ They hurtled, running, leaping, their gigantic feet devouring the sand as the distance between them became smaller…smaller….

She let the tears fall and turned away from the advancing fiends.  _How stupid…_ She bent over Nina, holding her close. She stroked her blanched forehead _…why now…_ her eyelashes fluttered _..why now…when everything was perfect…_

Nina’s eyes refocused. She began to shake. “M-mom?” She looked past her. Nyo didn’t have to turn to know they were almost upon them. “I know sweetie, I know…” she choked back a sob.

Nina’s fingers clutched at Nyo’s face. She closed her eyes _…oh these dear little fingers…_

“Mom? Mom! MOM!”

Nyo felt the crushing hands close around her, felt herself wrenched into the air. She waited for the teeth, the jaws, the crunch…the wind raged now, whipping at her face…she opened her eyes.

_W-what_ …

The dunes rushed past her… _they’re moving away…away from Nina…_ she twisted herself around in the giant fist.  _All three…all three are leaving her…_ her eyes widened.  _They’re not taking Nina…?_

She felt a sudden, absurd, miserable joy _…they’re ignoring her…thank you…thank you…_

“Thank you.”

 

Nina was motionless, horrified. A crippling sense of powerlessness ripped through her, crushing her chest. The titans that had borne her mother away halted-they were barely twenty metres far off. Nyo was limp in the fist of the largest. With a sudden writhe, it hurled her into the air.

“NO! Mom!” Nina scrambled up. “Don’t-!” The reeking jaws smashed closed over her mother’s body.  

“N-no…” she sank to the floor and her hands clawed at her hair.  _Stop it…St-stop…_ her eyes stretched wide  _but wait-!_

Nyo was half clasped in the beast’s jaws-it hadn’t eaten her. Nina watched numb, frozen, horror closing icy fingers around her. She was so cold…so cold. “M-mom…”

It twisted its head and threw Nyo back up. With a guttural cry, the second titan leapt up and caught her.

_…w-what…_

It tossed her again and the third titan completed the macabre play, catching her in its maw and flinging her back into the air… _like a doll…like a…_

“No…no, no…no…NO…SHE’S NOT A DOLL-SHE’S NOT A TOY-MOM ISN’T A TOY!” she screamed.

Her fingernails ripped her palms open. Rage…rage-she was consumed with a burning rage. She jerked herself up and looked around wildly. Her eyes fixed on the sword. She snatched it clumsily, hands barely fitting around the hilt. She tried to raise it _…too heavy…I can’t, too heavy…_ she turned back frantically-they were still tossing Nyo. Her body was flung up and then to the next, caught again, to the next and round and back to the largest until-

It leapt up and clamped its jaws, finally swallowing her.

Nina’s heart crashed to a halt _…n-no…_  the blood sprayed as if in slow-motion. Too bright-it was too bright, like paint _…no…_ the titan threw its head back, slaked, and the other two pawed at it as if in protest _…no, no…_

They turned to her. Nina felt the sword drag her forward on to the floor _…no…_ her face smashed into the sand…it scratched her cheeks, her eyes, creeping into her mouth, nose, throat burning, burning _…no…_ NO!

She wrenched herself off the ground. Her left arm dislocated from her shoulder as she heaved the sword up. Each breath shredded her lungs, convulsing her body as she raised it above her head askew, teetering. She was driven into the sand under its weight. She tottered, flailed… _you’ll give her back…you’ll give her…_

She didn’t feel her small fingers break, didn’t feel her wrists snapping and the stinging, shard-like sand, she didn’t feel the heat, the heat, the heat.

Yet her whole body was on fire, aflame and she tore towards them, blade brandished, screaming, screaming “GIVE HER BACK! GIVE MOM BACK!” They rushed forward in turn, grinning, galloping. She skidded past a colossal, grasping hand and flung herself with the sword at a gigantic foot.

The blade skipped, completely off the mark, barely grazing the tough, mocking hide. The hands came whistling down, snatching her into the air. She kicked, and struggled and screamed and tore and bit and gnashed. But to no avail-the wind rushed down past her, yanking her breath away. The dripping jaws engulfed her field of vision and she wretched at the stench, the sickening warmth…

There was a sudden shrill rip, as if the air had been sliced through and Nina felt herself falling _…am I going to mom…? …I’m going to where mom is…?_   _…no…_ the burning sand crashed into her scornful, laughing softly.  _Oh no,_  it whispered grainily _…you’re going to stay here…in this hell…_ The grit fell out of her eyes…and her head juddered round to find a dark silhouette against a searing blue sky.

“Lin…dia…?”

“Nina…Nina…we were too late…too late.” For a second Lindia couldn’t find her-the blood pounding in her ears was too loud. Then she felt her shuffling away, staggering. “W-where are you-” she heard her fall into the sand. She rushed over to her and found her face down-asleep? She lifted her and felt that her arms were clutching, closed around…Nyo’s sword. Lindia held her head. “Nina let go,” her unseeing eyes dropped tears onto the girl’s brow, “it’s cutting you…”

She heard the titans crash behind her, heard their blood spatter. It would soon vaporise, leaving only Nyo’s to soak the dunes.

She felt Nina’s pulse ebb and fade. Her breathing had become regular. “O-oh…you don’t need to do that now…”she whispered, pulling her cloak over them both.

“They’re gone…”

 

“Two weeks?”

“We didn’t try wake to her…”

“She was breathing normally-”

“Where is she now?”

“She’s eating something…Sister Germaye-”

“Good. She must be starving.”

“We had her on drips…”

“That’s not a substitute.” 

The brawny nurse manager glared at the two bedside nurses and slammed her notebook shut, stalking into the bay. She strode over to the bed where a tiny, white-haired form sat, bandaged hands folded.  _An old woman in a child’s body_. The bowl of fluffy white yams was untouched. She sighed and her stoic face slightly softened. “Why don’t you cry, dear? It’s not good for you like this…”

“I’ll…I’ll get dehydrated.” Her lids were barely open. Sister Germaye raised her eyebrows and drew herself up stiffly, “Well, that’s…quite sensible, I suppose. You seem to be quite a resourceful girl so why don’t you have a bite of something?”

Nina cast an indifferent glance at the bowl. “I only like…the yellow ones…”

The nurse manager blinked. “Well, white’s all we’ve got.” She turned on her heel and marched out the ward. The other two nurses were waiting anxiously. She looked at them, frowning. “Get her the yellow mix.”

“But that’s from the Third faction-!”

“Now.”

She exited the bay and sat herself in the out-office. A group of women had congregated in the waiting hut. She glowered-they were relatives of the today’s new admission.  _Babbling biddies…_

“…out of nowhere, about eleven of the creatures, from the west…”

“The New-base ruins?”

“Yes!”

“What on earth…”

“They were returning from an offensive-caught them completely off guard…”

“All four brothers…killed…”

“Good God…”

“Sara’s in tatters…”

“You’d think she’d be the one here…”

“Well, of course Kiito took it badly-what do you expect?”

“Really, crying herself into a fever like that-as if they don’t have enough to deal with…”

“She’s going to shrivel up!”

“What about Wep…”

“Oh, him…”

“My brother was never one to mourn…”

Nina lay on her back, eyes boring into the ceiling. She had tried to go back to sleep but someone had been brought in crying several hours ago. They were still crying. She turned to the culprit’s bed at the far side of the room.

“Kiito?”

“Nina? Nina! Nina…oh Nina…..”

Nina got up. The nurses talked a lot. She walked over to Kiito’s sobbing form. “N-Nina what should we do now…what should we do….” Nina put her hand on her head, wincing slightly.

“Live.”

“W-what?” Kiito looked up, her face blotched and tear-streaked.

“Your brothers-they’re all gone, aren’t they…?”

“Yes, I-”

“Don’t end up like them,” she whispered, “don’t you die as well-”

“N-Nina…”

“I’m tired, Kiito…I’m tired. I-I’m going to sleep…” Nina turned away from her and trudged back to her bed. She felt under the thin mattress. Her hands curled around the hilt of Nyo’s sword and she slid it out, heaving it onto the bed. She crawled in after it. Her eyelids began to droop.

“Captain! A-afternoon-why-”

“Where is Were’s kid?”

The bedside nurse pointed falteringly, “Sh-she’s-”

Abe stalked over to the tiny heap in the sheets. “The sword.” She turned her head slightly, her eyes half-closed. “Give it here, another soldier’s going to use it.” His jaw clenched.

Her lids snapped open. She struggled for some seconds under the sheets until he realised she was trying to sit up. He watched her, expressionless. She slumped onto the headboard and looked straight at him, her body heaving.

“I’m going to be that soldier.”

He looked down at the small girl. Her eyes were orbs of fire. She pressed her lips together defiant and he saw in her face the visage of another.

“Are you now…?” He turned and covered his eyes. He began to walk away, “I’ll be back when you’re taller than that sword.”

Sister Germaye met him at the door. “Abe!? What brings you here?”

“Germaye.” he looked at her for a moment then frowned, shaking his head. “White won’t do at all-get her the yellow stuff.”

“Y-yes. It’s been sent for.” she said bewildered, raising an eyebrow. He carried on and she looked after him perplexed, then huffed and returned to the out-office.

He left the bay hut, striding past the main infirmary branch and into the gloom of the rest of the Second faction.

_Nyo only ever ate the yellow ones._

 


	11. Zeal

The swathed body was borne out of the hatch under dark skies and false clouds. Shifting between grey and white, the dunes shimmered in the overpowering heat. they were clad in dark suits, their faces obscured with masks and they tread noiselessly towards the edge of the ring. Those on the edge carried huge swords.

Three men stood and watched the procession recede, growing smaller and smaller on the horizon. They were headed for the Fallen banks, the resting place of the dead.

Set was stark, gaunt, his hair dishevelled. Abe and Maxim stood near him. Maxim crouched down then sat, his face blank. He held is head. "Where's Isach?"

Set stared out onto the dunes. "With his aunt...Sophia's sister." Abe placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's been screened?"

"Yes."

Maxim's brow creased. "How...how? Sophia's been nowhere near the Q-zones...there's no way she could've contracted it-no one in our faction has the disease."

Set turned, his face haggard. "It was Wep." He said flatly "That night..."

"What."

"He came to my house after his rounds...it must've somehow-"

"When..."

"...the latest batch of vaccines..."

Maxim looked up, his face stricken. "That's impossible! He should've gotten it himself then besides," he paused "she would've been gone within days without the braking drug...and you and Isach haven't contracted it...." he tailed off clutching his head; he was frustrated, confused.

"She must've gotten hold of it somehow," Set's eyes stared out, unseeing, across the dunes, "...she started wearing gloves...oh God- I should've known...when she started sleeping in the spare room...when she stopped playing the kudu..."

They were silent. Set shook. "It was then," he whispered, "when Sophia arranged his case...the suit wasn't fully in the case, it wasn't...the sickness...why...why did I bring him into my house...?" He covered his mouth and turned to the hatch. "I'm going...to get Isach."

They watch him go down. Abe looked down at Maxim. It had been several months since Nyo's death. Maxim had been spending his days out in the desert, returning only at night- he had taken up his sword again. Abe wandered...were the dunes were any good in sating his stifling sorrow?

Maxim sighed raggedly. "She wants to fight..." he muttered.

Abe looked at him. "She does."

Maxim put his head in his hands. "I can't let her...I can't-not with..." His arms fell to his sides and Abe knew already-there was no going back. He remembered Nina's eyes. Something had snapped in that little girl and until it was fixed she wouldn't stop raging inside.

"She's going to wreck herself...its better if she wrecks them instead."

Maxim let his head fall between his knees. Abe looked at his crushed shoulders. His eyes widened. "Nyo...should've been with me."

Maxim's head snapped up, his face contorted in shock and then fury. Abe cleared his throat. "I should've gone with her to the Bush ring...that day."

Maxim stared at him-his eyes blazed for another second then died. "How many times do you think...I've thought the same thing?" He passed a hand over his eyes. "Nina will fight."

He watched him rise to his feet. He'd said it as if he'd resigned himself but Abe knew-her eyes had burned searing holes into his own and he could still see the scorch marks on Maxim's lids from when she had done the same to him.

"She will."

**Background:** Training to fight titans

The Base's fighters did not have an official collective name-they were known as the soldiers and sometimes the hunters. This was mainly because there were no other armed forces in the metropolis, including the police force. There didn't need to be-crime rates were low and consisted of mainly petty offences. The threat of the titans encompassed everything. Despite the seeming laxness, there was an unspoken rule that truly kept the order; break the peace, face the titans.

Children were recruited to join the titan-hunting forces generally from the age of eleven and underwent a year of preparation before entering the desert as fighters. Even within this short period, what they underwent was hardly considered training. What was emphasised was mental preparation. Physical strength and aptitude was something that needed to be possessed, at least in part, prior to recruiting. They couldn't waste time after all.

One of the first aspects of training was learning how to conceal their pulses; pre-combatants were required to master this within one month of their training or they'd be dismissed. The rest of the year consisted of internalising field techniques and countless combat formations. With that said, physical aptitude was not ignored and was assessed separately by overseers-anyone starting to lag was simply given a warning and then removed. The real test of a pre-combatant's mental and physical strength was embodied completely in a single simulation test.

This test was a closely guarded secret within each generation of recruits. It was the single most accurate indicator of how a fighter would truly react to a titan and therefore their suitability to real-time combat. The penalty in place for any person who gave away any indication to its existence was complete ostracization from the metropolis. Ninety years ago it was execution. The secret had not yet once been leaked-soldiers knew how valuable a factor it was in their combat strategy and their ultimate goal in defeating the titans.

The simulation test centred on creating an entirely realistic scenario where the combatant wholly believed they were surrounded by titans. Their reaction and skill was then carefully assessed by both a computer and a panel of senior combatants. It was similar to virtual reality utilising not a headset, but microscopic nanobots that entered the combatant's body whilst they were asleep. The pre-combatants were taken in small groups to certain rings under the pretence of observing titan behaviour or a similar exercise. The nanobots were then released entering their bodies through pores in their skin whilst simultaneously administering a sleeping drug. Pre-combatants are then driven back unconscious to the Base to the assessment theatre where they awake to a situation where the ring has retracted and they are faced with a titan.

Those who passed the test were qualified as combatants and given their swords according to their fighting style and ability. The short preparation period with little emphasis in developing physical aptitude would perhaps make this seem preposterous, however combatants were not thrown straight into direct titan engagement. They were allocated to simple disabling operations first such as trip-rope manoeuvre and catapult driving. Each was also assigned as an assist to an older, experienced soldier where they'd aid in fighting and finish up any incomplete kills. The true honing of their combat skills was gained purely from experience-those who could not keep up would either die in combat if they hadn't been already rescued and dismissed. This was of course not completely void of external criticism. When called upon for answers, the now-commander Abe gave the statement:

_'It's a simple case of mind over matter-if they are mentally strong the rest will follow. There's no point in play acting.'_

This minor outcry was routine every few years and quickly died out. For the most part there was little resistance. Everyone in the base had the same dream-annihilate the titans, so that we can truly rise again.

 

 

_'Hey, both our moms are gone right...that makes us the same...why don't we be orphan buddies...?'_

_She blinked. 'We can't do that. An orphan is only if you lose both...stupid...'_

_They thought about their fathers....orphans?_

_'Whatever...but you'll do it with me right? You'll stick with me...and I'll stick with you...?'_

_'....Y-yes...yes.'_

It was no longer possible to keep Nina in a classroom. She'd get up and walk out mid-lesson, begin drawing on the walls or go into a corner and sleep. One afternoon, she came into the classroom after school and handed Miss Hazouki her slate, her fountain pen and a book.  _An encyclopaedia...? From the before the war...._  "Nina...what's this?"

"I'm not coming in tomorrow...or ever. So I've come to give these back and you can have this."

"A-are you sure?" she'd seen Nina with it quite a few times. She'd read it quietly in the back, when lessons became too boring. Miss Hazouki pushed it back, "No, no-I can't take this."

"It's alright. I've got it all safe...right here," she put her hands on her temples, "show it...to everybody." Nina placed the book into her hands. She walked to the door and turned. "Goodbye."

Miss Hazouki watched the curly, white head bob away. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. This was no longer the carefree, faraway, girl she had taught for four years. She realised with a jolt that today...was her birthday. She was eight with the eyes of an eighty year old. She put her glasses back on and opened her desk, carefully sliding the encyclopaedia inside.

"Goodbye, Nina." she whispered.

And so Nina ended her comprehensive education at the age of eight. Instead she spent time in her father's lab and garage, immersing herself in ancient books of biotechnology and fine engineering. Soon there wasn't a single machine or automaton that could not be dismantled and put back together by her in the metropolis. By the time she was ten, she'd taken over half her father's work and a few even said she was better-suited to it. But their appreciation was short-lived. After a year came the time for recruitment and she dropped everything. She was waiting above the hatch before dawn had even come.

 

And so the year-long preparation began. Even in the short training period, she quickly made it clear she wasn't wasting time. Within the first week she had mastered the pulse-concealment and she was quick to secure her position as top pre-combatant of that year's recruits. The months flew by and soon came the day of the simulation test. They'd all been summoned above the hatch.

"Right! Nine groups. One to the Bush ring, two to the Sun ring, three to the Blue ring, four to the Thorn ring...."

Nina looked up at the lightening skies. They'd be spending the night out on the dunes, observing titan night-behaviour. The year was almost over. Soon she'd be on the plains, unrestricted...as a true fighter.

"Let's move!"

Commander Abe sat behind the black-screen. "This the last batch?"

"Yes," Hali reset all the control switches.

"Who's being brought in now?"

"Nina Were."

Abe sat up. "Right, let's start,"

She was brought in on a stretcher then placed on the sand-covered floor. Her timepiece was adjusted and put forward to the required time. "Increasing room temperature." Hali muttered. The simulation was faultless, convincing in every way. "Androids in position." Abe looked down at the small, sleeping figure. The next thing she knew, she'd be surrounded by titans, comrades devoured. "Spotlight on."

Nina jolted awake to a searing sun. It was morning already? Plumes of sand wafted around her. She looked at her watch _...just after dawn._  The sands fell and she sprang to her feet. Four, no, five titans had surrounded her. The ring was gone. Where was everyone... _had they been-?!_  She saw then the limbs littered around her, a severed head...fallen swords. She froze and stood very still. Then she sat down, legs crossed.

"What!?" Hali stood up. "She's-!" Abe narrowed his eyes. A titan loomed above her. She didn't bat an eyelid as its hand swooped down towards her face. Abe jerked on the controls. The hand juddered to a stop millimetres from her face. "What is this...?" her voice was flat as it crackled through their receivers "What is that-that isn't...don't screw with me..."

Abe rose and left the control room. Hali watched him, amazed, then fumbled for the speaker. "Alright kid, you can get out." The scene dispersed before her eyes and she found herself in a large, white hall. She stood up and the sand fell from her... _huh...at least this was real..._  she saw the huge cylindrical bots surrounding her so that when she was meant to fight back, her sword did not cut thin air. "Exit through the door on the left hand side and come up-we need you to sign some documents,"

"Get it out of me first."

He blinked, "What?"

"What did you use? Bots or was it in our water?"

"If you come up, I'll get it out." he held is head... _what_...this had never happened in the history of the simulation's use. She opened the door. Her face was blank but in her eyes he saw a smouldering, suppressed fury. He passed the biomagnet over her back and it flashed to show the bot had been received. Frowning deeply, he handed her the papers that would swear her to secrecy.

The VR world was incredibly realistic-more than realistic. It was a seamless extension of the present. There were several times when he'd entered it, even after his induction, where he'd believed he was in a titan-infested desert. He watched her write her name over and over, letter by letter slowly, deliberately as if she was saying  _yes, I took part in you phony sim and yes I'll keep your shitty secret._

Nina Were. He realised then that the simulation was nothing to those who'd already witnessed the true terror of the titans. She placed the papers on the desk and turned to leave. Absurdly, he wanted to say something... _apologise? For what? Trying to convince her this fake was real...?_  She stopped for a second at the door then left, slamming it violently behind her. He sighed and stamped her test sheet.

_PASS_  

 

 Nina did not lose a second in engaging titans in real-time combat. She was the only one who'd arrived with a sword and it was clear that she and it were effectively one being, the fingers that once snapped underneath the towering blade now dominating the hilt. Perhaps what was most surprising was her strength-for a girl her size, she could execute unbelievable power moves, on par with seasoned soldiers, within three months of graduation. Agility and speed were soon also shown to be unmatched save by three individuals: Isach Hosef, Kobe To-an and Commander Abe. She was not without weakness, however, and was known to waver after anything particularly exhaustive. Her recovery was fast, nonetheless, and she'd press on to the next task.

Generally, her awareness was of good calibre-she was also very sharp and focused in combat, perhaps too much, often forgetting anything else. Another shortcoming was her complete inability to work in a team, namely in smaller combat formations. Her comrades quickly learnt to just tell her whatever was needed to be done and hope she wouldn't see an opening before their plan was executed. She couldn't lead to save her life, so couldn't be entrusted with this either-any requests were met with a blank stare or blunt refusal.

It wasn't necessarily that she desired to fight solo, she just wasn't able to think beyond her own field of combat. She was also a known risk-taker and once she'd decided to undertake a certain task, dissuading her was futile. Her aptitude instilled more uneasiness than awe. She was too hungry, too impatient, for the engagement, the fight and the conquest. What was it for? Glory? Recognition? Or simply the one aim they all shared- to kill the titans? No, the discontent in her eyes seemed unquenchable, insatiable.

_Live, survive...no matter what_. In every fight, every battle, what mattered to her most was getting out alive, unscathed. She did not have a concrete purpose...yet. Everyone's aim was to destroy the titans, wipe them off the face of this earth and it was hers too, to an extent, but there was something else driving her- _don't die...don't die before you can see beyond these plains, before you can fly off this place..._

Many thought her a quiet and sleepy individual but quickly learnt their mistake. Belying her generally discreet appearance, she was known to have a quick and terrible temper and did not let stray remarks go unchallenged. She was generally an upbeat, robust person and was quick to have those around her grinning even if she did not quite laugh with them. Even so, she wasn't particularly sociable and kept to herself when she wasn't with Isach, Kiito or Lindia. She was more popular and at ease with older recruits who wheezed and hooted at her bouts of irritation or good humour.

And so Nina took to her life as a titan-hunter like a second skin. She felt as if she had been born to do this even though she knew deep down no one was...and no one should be.


	12. Insight

“Titans don’t move at night.”

“Mm.”

“Why is that?” Maxim spun in his chair, “They need the sun…photosynthesis?”

“Then they’d be green.” Nina finished braiding her bangs back. Her hair was pretty long now, grazing her hips.

He sighed. “Not necessarily…how was yesterday’s operation?”

“Good. We were clearing old territory down south.”

“Ah-they came back to those old barren plains…”

“Where were you last night?”

“Chief’s.”

“Right…he’s turning a hundred and twenty-what this year?”

“I’m not actually sure…” Her father started lining up needles.

“That’s kinda wack, don’t you think…? How come he’s been around so long?”

“It’s not that unusual…people lived for longer before the war.”

“But it’s just him…and he’s the only one with the antibodies?”

“Yes…and thank God for that…without him we’d have been done for,” He cast a glance at her pensive face, “it really isn’t that strange at all-humans have been making vaccines from people’s antibodies for millennia.”

“Yeah…I know…his blood right?”

“Well, yes and no…it has to be from the capillaries just coming off his spinal column…”

She blinked. “Right…”

“Aw come on, Nina-there’s plenty more quirks in the metropolis-think about how many kids with extra fingers there are…did you know that once, twins were born that shared the same body down from the neck? No one’s been the same since the fallout…it could’ve been worse…look at you-” He caught her hand and grinned, “you’re a freak yourself.” She snatched it away pretending to scowl; the fingernails on her right hand grew twice as fast as those on her left.

“Ok…ok…the ring’s coming up tomorrow…today we’re going to test out some new formations…” her lids lowered and she stifled a sigh.

She wished she could fight with Maxim just once…to go in for the kill with him by her side… Her father was the single person she’d ever considered working with. For the past few years, he and other elites had been undertaking solo missions-to assess titan number density and chart new lands.

He constantly evaded teaming up… _he’s afraid that something might happen…whilst he was there…_ When he fought, nothing and no one else mattered, something she had inherited it seemed. He was like a ball of fire, his blade making the titans’ flesh not steam but  _smoulder_.

_‘Your mother was a wonder…she took them down like the wind-she made slaughtering them look beautiful.’_

She bit her lip as she adjusted her shoulder-harness. Her parents…the two of them together would’ve even made the unfeeling titans quiver…if only-

“Beni’s got the sickness.” Maxim knuckled his eyes, his voice was suddenly weary.

Her chest contracted. “What-but how! He already had it-!”

“I don’t know…it can’t have mutated that fast…” he scratched his head furiously, “in fact there’s no way it did…the chief’s antibodies haven’t changed…and he’s not the only one…excluding him, about five of the eleven cured last year…are falling prey to the disease again.”

Beni had been one of the few lucky survivors of the sickness. Nina drew in her breath. Nanye had been so happy…Beni had even gotten her into a hospital for her legs. Now he had it again…?

“This has happened before-it’s in the logs from fifty years ago…but no one seems to remember…Wep says he knows nothing.”

Maxim frowned deeply. Even with those that had been cured last year, something felt inconsistent-they had been one-off cases, in factions where there was no previous history of the disease for at least forty years. The only way they could have been infected is if they’d intentionally gone to the Q-zones…and that was madness…

Nina’s brow furrowed. “How’s Beni now? Does Nanye-?” .

“No, she doesn’t know. He asked me not to say…it’s started with his fingers as per usual-I’ve given him the slowing drug…”

She nodded. Getting the sickness was no longer an unprecedented thing. She looked at her father’s weary face. “Are you coming to the celebration tomorrow?’

“Afraid not.” He grimaced, “I’m going to be out.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you trying again?”

“Yeah.”

She sighed. For the past year, her father had been trying to capture a titan. Everyone thought he had gone mad. No one cared what the titans were-they just had to be exterminated. She didn’t understand herself why her father suddenly desired to secure one…dissection?

She pulled on her boots “Right-I’m headed to the blue ring.”

“Through the tunnel.” He plunged boiling tubes into a cooler.

“Yeah…” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not crazy enough to try my luck when the Base ring’s still down.”

Maxim watched her disappear through the grubby lab window. He still couldn’t believe she was seventeen-the years had flown. He watched her fight and it still stupefied him how overwhelmingly proud he was. 

_Nyo…there was nothing to fear…our girl…_

_She’s flying._

 

“Right that’s the last one! One of you finish it off.” Kobe heaved himself onto a camel, “debrief at the Sun ring then you can clock out!” he shouted over his shoulder as he made his way south.

Nina turned from his receding figure and looked on at the steaming bones and corpses-the aftermath of their morning drill. The new formation had worked pretty well-they’d taken out about seventeen. The new trip-lines not only brought titans down but severed feet. Aiming crossbows and going for the napes was fairly easy then…but they had to be careful of lunging hands.

One seemed to have escaped. It was fairly small, about five metres. A slight boy with a shaven head, save for a thin ponytail, rushed forward, sword brandished. “Leave it to me, guys!”

“Oi, Kago your line’s half out, man!”

“Crap-thanks Isach!”

Nina sheathed her blade, sliding it into her back scabbard. Isach looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “You’re not gonna take this one?”

“Nah,” Nina stifled a yawn, “doesn’t look like it’ll be much of fight…what’s he doing…?”

They watched him raise his elbow, shooting off a grapple hook from the his tricep. “There’s no point scaling such a small one…” Isach frowned.

“He should just go for the ankles…silly boy.” Kiito’s brow was furrowed as she ran a sharpener along her blade’s teeth.

“Mm.”

“Idiot! He’s trying to get in through the ear?!”

Nina raised her eyebrows. “There’s no way he’ll fit…it’s too small…”

“He did it!” Nor, a girl with wild dark curls, punched the air.

“He’s in!”

“What?”

“Woah…”

They watched, breath baited.  _Damn…_ Nina looked on intently.  _Kago, that little punk…_ But what was taking him so long?  _He should’ve made it to the pharynx by now…_ Their walky-talkies hissed.

“Oii!” his voice crackled “I’m stuck! I’m stuck in the bloody thing-hurry up and kill it! B-but don’t do anything to the head!”

“No…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“Retard!”

“I’ll get him.” Isach drew his sword. He sped forward until he was almost upon the titan then slid to the right, lopping off its foot whilst evading a lunge. It crashed to the ground.

“Hey! I’m still in here!” Kago’s voice screeched through the talkies

Nina tutted into the speaker “Don’t expect him to go easy-you got yourself into that piss-hole.”

“My arms are pinned!-I can’t help it-I’m literally bent into myself.”

“Idiot.”

Isach leapt onto the neck and carved out the nape. “Right Kago,” he grunted, “I’m gonna slice in half long-ways so tuck your legs in…”

They returned, Kago scratching his head sheepishly and Isach flicking his sword clean of titan blood.

“Way to go,” Nina said drily and turned to a kneeling camel, “Kiito, let’s hitch it.”

“Right!” Kiito clambered on after her. Nina pressed her toes into the camel’s neck and it rose, grumbling. “Ok boy-straight ahead!”

“Hey Nina, Kiito! Wait up!” Nor leapt on to another camel and Kago and Isach followed suit. They rode southward through the billowing dunes.

“Say!” Kago rubbed his neck, reins looped around one hand, “how’d we figure to cut the napes anyway?”

“Who knows…”

“Chief had a vision…he saw it in a dream years ago.”

“What?”

“What a load of sh-”

“It was a man.”

“Huh?”

“He got eaten but he wasn’t having it-”

“Yeah! I heard of him-he thrashed around until he cut through the nape and bam! Titan  _down.”_

“Well, it works,” Nina tightened the reigns, “Hurry up, Kobe’s gonna have another sulking fit.”

“Sooo… where did they come from?” Kago grinned-this was his favourite topic. She sighed.

“Most people say they came from underground.” Kiito piped.

“Naw, they’re from space-they burst out a giant meteor.” Isach shot Nina an impish glance.

She scowled. Nor looked up at the sky “Some people say they’re related to humans…like descendants…”

“No chance,” Nina said shortly, “there was no way near enough time to evolve-they’re most likely a new species…” Even as the words left her mouth she knew it was ridiculous… _a new species from where?_ How had creatures that huge been hiding, undetected, on the earth? And why did they suddenly show up over a century ago…?

 

 

The Sun ring came into view, the tallest pillar at the point of its tear-drop shape shattering the sunlight. 

“What the hell is that?” 

A gigantic, dark mound rose just beyond the ring. Smoke streamed from its opening and as they came closer they could see it was veined with molten red.

“A volcano…?” 

They entered the ring and dismounted joining the band of senior combatants in the centre. Nina saw Commander Abe stood at the curve of the ring, Kobe and Lindia by his side. Lindia turned her head fractionally and raised a hand. Nina rushed over to her, the others not far behind. “What’s that?”

“The Fire titan,” Abe grimaced.

“The motomiran.” Lindia blinked her unseeing eyes.

“W-what?!”

“No way…”

“That’s the fire titan?”

“What the-that’s just a big ass mountain. On fire.”

Kobe shifted. “It was a sea of lava last time. It’s been moving above the canyons in a dark mass for the past week and ten minutes ago it took this form.”

“It can change shape? What the-”

“Shit…”      

Thunderous tremors suddenly shook the ground. The smoke billowed and began to pour.  Nina reached behind her back.

“HUNTERS SET!” Abe roared. They all gripped their hilts. Nina’s fingers tightened around hers. _We’re going to fight it…here…now…_ No one had ever come back alive from battling the fire titan. It was the one that ended the reign of the Three Hunters…and brought darkness to the base.

“Lindia, alert base soldiers on standby.”

“Roger.” She switched on her talky. “Indication of eruption. Assumption of true form anticipated.”

The ground rumbled again and sand flew up. There was an ear-splitting bang and for an instant they were blinded by threads of…lightning? The smoke cleared and the sands settled-the volcano had vanished.

There was a collective sigh of relief as they all visibly relaxed. Abe spat. “It shouldn’t come again for at least another decade…”

“Wait what!” Nina whipped round to face him. “Why aren’t we reporting this as a sighting?!”

“It’ll cause unnecessary panic-until it appears in its true form, that’s not needed.”

“But-!”

“It’s the chief’s orders.” He turned away from her and Lindia put a hand on her shoulder. “Leave it-that’s how it’s always been.” Nina’s brow crunched and she bit her thumb.  _How many times had they seen it already…?_  Lindia looked past her with eyes the same colour as the milky pendant at her throat. “It won’t be back for a long while. Don’t worry.”

Kobe went to join the commander. “You should all be getting ready for the tribute tomorrow.”

The soldiers began to disband, mounting camels, entering jeeps.

Nina looked at the huge, smoking crater. It glistened dark and smooth where the sand had been crushed and…turned into glass.

“Nina?” Kiito stood behind her head tilted and Isach looked back at her from his camel.  She sighed and turned.

“Let’s go.”

 

 

“Ok-lenses have been cleaned and I’ve changed the mirror- we should get a nice view.” Nor slammed shut a small hatch in the huge, grey telescope. “Thanks for fixing the mount, Nina.”

“No sweat.”

“Right, let’s see.” Isach squatted onto the low stool.

“Forget it.” Nor slammed a foot into his side, and he fell off laughing. “Sorry, I forgot first viewing goes to the astronomy nut.”

“You’re meant to be watching for the ring, twit.” Nor settled herself on the stool, feet tapping eagerly.

Nina sat opposite Kiito in the tiny spherical room. The four of them were in the smallest of the base’s observatories. This was the only one with a dome partially above the surface. It also had the best resolution. Nor took hold of the telescope’s handles and heaved, the curved roof rotating with it. “Now, let’s see if I can find the hunter’s constellation…there!”

“Nice…” Isach yawned, “Find the owl.”

“Yup! Got it.”

Nina looked up from the thick, red rope she was braiding with Kiito “What about the wings?”

Nor’s shoulders slumped. “No…that’s not in our hemisphere right now…we won’t see that for another five months.” Her voice was wistful.

“You could. If you went across the equator.”

Isach raised an eyebrow, “Well, we can’t do that…at the moment.”

Nor looked up from the eyepiece. “Yeah…”

Nina sighed.  _But we will…one day…_

The ground shook with distant tremors and their seats bounced slightly. Titans.

“How many more hours until the ring comes up?“ Kiito brought her knees up to her chest.

“Around seven…” Isach sat back. “They’re coming closer…’ he murmured.

The ground-shaking steps grew louder.

Nina looped the rope around her arm to shorten it. “Figures-they can probably sense us through the do-”

A sudden bang cut her off. The roof of the observatory juddered. More thumps followed.

“Shit.” Isach sat up, eyes narrowed.

Her lids lowered. “Pulses. All of you. Now.”  _They’re trying to get in_.

They all stopped and willed their pulses into silence. Kiito froze. “It’s not working,” she held her neck “I can’t get rid of it-I can’t-” The titans’ pounding escalated and her eyes grew wide in alarm. Nina gripped her knee. “Chill. They won’t get in…they’re just making a racket.” Kiito’s shoulders began to shake.  _How many are there_? The walls began to tremble slightly _…more are coming…_

Isach scrambled up and put a hand on Kiito’s back. “Hey…calm down…” he took hold of her hand. “Deep breaths…it’ll only go if you stop thinking hard about it.” Kiito nodded and closed her eyes. The banging came to halt and she opened them. “It’s gone.” she breathed. Isach laughed. “Good girl.” Nina blinked. 

Nor was stood looking up at the warped ceiling “Woah…look at that.” Several dents had appeared from the titans’ onslaught. "Phew! They didn’t hit the objective lens.” Their giant steps pounded momentarily around the observatory, as if confused, then eventually they stomped away. Their prey seemed to have disappeared.

Nina got up abruptly. “Come on-we need to get rest for tomorrow’s prep.” She balled the rope up. “We might not have to scrap with titans but the faction hags are gonna be even harder to deal with.”

Isach grinned.“Are you even gonna turn up?”

She looked at him, disdainful. “Depends on the food…besides, I have to be there for at least part of it-I’ve been roped in with the yodellers.”

“No way!” His eyes widened then sparkled mischievously.

“Mmm…broke two of their ornamental pots last week and they caught me-it’s payback.”

“You’re serious? You? Singing?” He was incredulous, laughing. She glowered and his eyes gleamed. “How come I’ve never heard you?”

She sighed and moved to the telescope, pulling out a temporary supporting crank. “If it wasn’t for this, my singing would be the last thing you’d ever hear.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “Then I’m definitely coming,” She turned away sharply, “to see how shit you are.” She scowled. Kiito got up.

 “What are you singing?”

“The Sun and Moon’s exchange.”

“Oh that’s so pretty!” Kiito’s eyes shone. Isach grinned throwing an arm over her shoulder.

“Hey Kiito, have you heard her sing?”

“yeah…”

“For real? Is she any good?” Kiito looked at her eyes wide, agonised.

“Um, y-ye-”

Nina’s scowl deepened and she grabbed her hand. “Kiito, come on-this shithead’s tryna get out of ring duty…also, aren’t you the Fox Queen?”

“Oh yes!” Her hands flew to her mouth. “I haven’t hemmed the dress’ skirt yet!”

Nor sprang up. “Crap, I’m meant to be your cub!”

“Then hurry up!” Nina pulled them down the short steps to the observatory’s exit. “I’ll help you.”

Isach shoved his hands into his pockets, turning on his heels, “Night, girls.”

“Night!”

“See ya!”

Nina said nothing and dragged them along.

 

 

Nina threw down the spanner and flung off the huge bolts threaded onto her wrists. The distiller was the single machine she hated working with-for something that was meant to purify water it was ridiculously filthy work. She didn’t necessarily mind the dirt but the grime from this machine was particularly stubborn. After all, tonight was the festival and she had to look at least somewhat presentable. Grumbling, she rammed the secondary lever with her foot, snapping buttons back on. She’d already memorised the verses for the performance but she suddenly felt uncharacteristically self-conscious. Kiito was the single living soul who’d ever heard her sing.

Through the corner of her eye, she saw Maxim walk past the garage door, crates of netting in his arms. He was preparing for tonight, when he would capture a titan…if he was lucky. Nina began to hum under her breath; she hadn’t actually practised the song out loud. She cleared her throat.

_…so let me pass before you, your time will come when you will pass in front of me and you will be my veil and I will dye you red…_

Maxim froze. The boxes he was carrying slipped out his hands. His jaw trembled. “No…" he whispered. “Nina, please, not that…anything but that…” She looked up in surprise to see him slumped against the door frame, his face contorted in anguish. His hand clutched at his head. It was enough that she was the splitting image of Nyo but he couldn’t take this… “Please…” He saw her laughing hazel eyes, the gilded birds that had flown out of her mouth and bewitched his ears…“Please.”

His eyes refocused onto Nina’s face. She couldn’t hide the shock, the hurt. “D-dad?” She scrambled up and moved towards him. “Dad…?” Her eyes anxiously searched his face for a second as he forced it to un-crumple. Then she grinned and pushed him. “Really-is my voice that bad?” She turned her back to him. “Alright, I’ll keep my mouth shut…but you’d better stop snoring…” Her small shoulders juddered. Covering his eyes, he staggered out. “Yeah…” He forced himself to laugh…“I’m going to be back late…”

“I know,” she turned her head and smiled at him, “good luck with titan-nabbing.”

“Thanks, kid.”

 

Nina pressed her back to the stone doors of the great hall. The noise of laughter and revelling burst through cracks, the ground shaking with the beat of the camel drums. There was a clash of bells-Kiito would be coming down now, carried on the Golden mat with Nor prancing behind her. She bit her lip. Right after this the singing would begin.

“Oi!” A voice hissed at her from the shadows. “You chickened out?”

She scowled and sighed. “Isach…twit…”

He came into view under the blinking street lamps. “Food wasn’t good enough, I see.”

“No…”

“Dammit,” he said softly, “I wanted to hear your screeching real bad.” His eyes flicked between grey and blue in the dim lighting.

“I’m not doing it…anymore…”

“Uh-huh…listen,” he leaned in and looked over his shoulder furtively, “by the main hatch in ten. Anything you can find.”

He turned and walked away speedily. She pursed her lips. “Right…”

Small sack in hand, Nina stepped out into the sweltering night. The ring wasn’t at its full size yet. A million golden flitting creatures pierced the darkness, darting and looping. Isach turned and grinned up from where he was squatting. “Brought a light but guess we don’t need it with these guys.” Nina nodded, eyes wide. The fireflies suddenly pulsed green, leaving emerald light tracks in their wake-then back to yellow.

“Huh…show-offs…” She moved to where he was sitting. He laughed.

 “It’s making your hair look funny…” 

She flopped down and sat back on her palms. They sat in silence for a while, watching the tiny creatures circle their heads and set the night ablaze.

“Nina.”

“Mm?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” She drew in her breath. The fireflies seemed to pulse brighter.

“If I were to be killed by a titan, I want you to avenge me.”

“What…” She sat up sharply. He turned and the look in his eyes silenced her.  _Why is he talking about this now…?_

“I want it to know…that they can’t win-no matter what, that this earth doesn’t belong to them…” he laughed ruefully, “teach it a lesson, make an example of it- kind of like an execution.”

 _Like they understand us…_ “What about you? Your body…”

“Oh, don’t bother with that…”

She sighed. They never did anyway, bodies were left to rest where they fell, to return to the dunes.

“Roger.”

“He breathed out then grinned. “Right-what did you get?”

“Lentils. Boiled.”

“You’re rubbish,” he pulled out three fat yams, “community garden locks need revamping.”

“Well, how are you going to eat those? Raw?”

“Pass the tinder.” She tossed the box to him and he pulled out some twigs from his pockets.

Her eyes widened. “You’re actually thick-those are worth five times their weight in gold.”

“Huh… an underground orchard is a joke, even for us…” He made a small tepee and set it alight.

“You could’ve at least gotten some apples…”

“Now, even I’m not that crazy…”

A firefly settled on his back. It glowed and flickered golden-green as it crawled around on his shirt.

“Isach?”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve got the eye.”

 

 

 

Nina slipped from shadow to shadow in the dim, muggy streets. The festival was wrapping up-but there’d still be go-hard partiers clinging onto the last of the revelries-she wasn’t safe yet. If the hags got her now she’d be digging in the gardens for the next three weeks. Opening the lab door, she slid in closing it behind her with a sigh of relief. She flicked on the lights and saw Maxim sitting in his chair. His sword was strewn on the floor behind him alongside a large tangle of frayed, steel ropes.

“Did you get one!?” She rushed over to him then stopped short when she saw the chillingly hollow expression on his face.

Maxim covered his mouth. “Yes…yes.” He got up suddenly and rushed for the lavatory. She listened as he was violently sick. “Dad?”  _What…_

He stumbled back into the doorway. “Something dodgy I ate, I think…gonna have to get my money back from Rida.” He laughed. She searched his face and he met her gaze, unwavering… _he seems…fine?_

“Do you need water?”

“No…No…don’t waste it on something like this.”

“So…what did you find…? The titan, I mean.”

His jaw tightened. “Nothing…nothing much…as expected their anatomy is very similar to ours…no lungs, though.” He forced his lips into a smile. “I wonder how they breathe…” His face had become blanched again, his deep brown skin ashen.

Frowning, she moved forward then spun him around, pushing him in the direction of a large hammock-bed. “Whatever…you can tell me in the morning.” To her surprise he didn’t resist. It seemed a night lab shift was the last thing on his mind.

_What had he found…?_ He wasn’t telling her. She bit her lip.

What had he seen…inside the titan…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


	13. Sear

“Nina my fuel’s spent.”

“So?”

“It’s dried up-”

“Then piss on it-do you think we can waste a single drop of water on you?” She looked up at the soldier contemptuously, cracking her teeth against a granite toothpick.

He scowled.  _Little bitch…_ The soldier opened his mouth to retort then saw commander Abe walking towards them. He slunk away…Nina was a known favourite of his.

Abe looked down at the small, squatting figure, stone pick in mouth. “I’m having you go north with a medium band.”

“Alright,” she took the pick out of her mouth, “but I’m not babysitting.”

A small smile tugged at his mouth. “I know that you little shit. That’s why I’m sending Isach with you-he’s got a cool head. And Nor-she’ll be assist for the poor bastards you leave in the lurch.”

“Roger.”

“Listen, this is a major offensive-we plan to take out a lot.”

She grinned and sprang up. “Understood.” These missions were her favourite. He turned and bellowed.

“Hunters!” They raised their blades.

“Let’s hustle!”

 

Nina watched the blood rivulet off her sword, spattering onto the sand. She looked around at the aftermath of the offensive-it was a complete massacre. They had taken out about forty titans outright and another twenty-three were immobile. With only two serious casualties and no deaths, this had far surpassed their expectations.

Nor came up next to her, eyes wide. “I think…I think we hit new territory…” She bounced slightly in glee. Nina nodded.

“Where’s Isach?”

“He’s finishing off the ones that are still kicking-there.”

“What about the others?” She turned and watched him leap from nape to nape, sword moving like lightning. 

“They took the pads and went to chart the area-besides, Isach’s more than fast enough on his own.” Nor sheathed her sword.

He flashed them a grin as he drove his blade into yet another nape. Nor took out a slim, metallic object. “Now let’s hope the stereoscope didn’t get bashed around too much…” Nina rolled her eyes.

“Should have left that in the jeep…”

She turned back to her and grinned. “Well, we can call it a day after we get this place drawn up.” Nor’s pale freckles glowed against her brown skin as she grinned back. “Yeah!”

Nina looked up at the sky. Was that…a cloud?  _Rain?_  She smiled a little.  _No…not for a long run…_ But that single, wispy tuft brought up a bubble of laughter in her throat. This was…good.

“N-Nina…”

She looked back at Nor and her heart shuddered to a halt. Nor's face was awash with horror, eyes stark, staring past her. Nina whipped round. Parallel mounds had appeared in the ground.  _Elbows…?_  The sand was suddenly thrown up and the back of a large titan rose from just under its surface. Nor screamed.

“ISACH!”

It slithered on all fours and rushed towards him, jaws gnashing. Isach’s sword went flying as he was flung up. Even from where they stood, they saw the faint surprise on his face and the two girls knew then… _too late…it was too late_.

Before Nina could even take another breath, it had smashed its jaws close over his airborne body, severing both legs. They fell. Like a pair of twigs.

Nor watched Nina’s eyes stretch wide then immediately narrow into glowing slits. She tore forward and came down on the creature lopping off its left arm and carving into its torso. She spun on one heel and shot down, disappearing into the sand then ripping up beneath and into its throat. She shot out the other side, obliterating its nape. It juddered to a stop and she swept down, severing its head completely. 

Nor was frozen, tears streaming down her face. “Isach…Isach…” She watched Nina grab a fistful of the dead titan’s hair and swing its colossal head over her shoulder.

“A-a Snake-type,” Nor clutched her head, “we haven’t come across those for months…it was hiding…the whole time.”

Nina returned, sand and steam and blood swirling in her wake, spoils of her battle thrown over her back.

“Nina…” She looked fearfully at the girl’s face. It was perfectly still, eyes dark, boiling. She walked past Nor, the decapitated neck emitting a stream of vapour. “You know the drill,” she murmured, “I’m going ahead…”

Nor looked after her despairingly, the sun already sucking her tears away. The small, white-haired figure moved forward through the dunes, dwarfed by the monstrous dome.

Soon she had disappeared, swallowed by the desert.

 

Whispering, laughing, the sand coursed through her ears. The massive head bounced on her back… _so light…it's so light…_ The wind tore at her with burning teeth and the sun raked her face, her arms.

_Where do you think you’re going…do you think you can run….?_

She saw the titan before she felt the tremors. It was not large, about six metres and moved straight towards her _…I didn’t notice it…coming, huh…my pulse…_ No matter-it had seen her already. She stopped. The Palm ring was close…no, the Boulder ring was even closer. If she tunnelled now and hid her pulse it would lose interest quickly. She could hold her breath long enough. 

 _Oh?_  The sand shrieked with laughter _…you’re not going to fight…? How pathetic…how pitiful…_  

“Shut up…” She threw the frothing head to the side. The titan was almost upon her “Shut the hell up.” Kicking her heel, she spun down, driving herself into the sand. 

“What!” She stopped with a juddering halt, waist deep. The drill-! It had stopped turning. She twisted herself violently-  _I can’t move_ …She looked up, eyes wide then froze. The titan lunged past her and closed its arms clumsily around the discarded head.

_What…_

Guttural moans emitted from its gaping mouth and it tried to cradle it, bending itself over.

_What…_

It threw its head back and continued, moans waning into whimpers.

_It’s…in pain…? What…wha-_

“What! WHAAAAT! Don’t screw with me you lump of shit!” 

She ripped herself out of the sand and blitzed forward, sword brandished, flailing. “Mourning? MOURNING?” Ripping through its torso, she separated the legs from its body. “Don’t try act like you have feelings, you filthy monster-What was he? Your boyfriend?” She yanked the head from its grasp. “How fucking  _sweet_.” She shoved her foot into the head’s disintegrating eye socket. “Look- _look_ …he’s gone, GONE and you are  _powerless,_ you stinking _, stinking_  wretch-you!” She rammed her blade between its eyes and it groaned. Its head fell forward and its arms stopped clutching.

_It’s given...up…?  Hey..._

“Hey…HEY! Do you- _do you think I’m going to let you off that easily?_ ” She wrenched up its head and scraped her blade against it throat. It gargled noisily. 

“Listen… _listen to me_.“ She hissed into its face. “We just took out sixty of your piss-faced lot and we’ll take more- the humans are going to take back the earth from you freaks and there’s nothing-” She smashed her blade into and across its back.

“-you-”

_Hack_

“-can-”

_Hack_

“-do-”

_Hack_

“-about it.”

And she hacked away, tearing up flesh and sand. She shattered through ribs and bones and relished in sound of their snapping, splintering.

_Not the nape…don’t…hit the nape…_

No, she would not to kill it. That was much too kind, too merciful…to this creature that dared to pretend it was  _human?_

She carried on, oblivious to the hushed and disturbed group that had gathered. She wanted to make the blood fly, make it  _spray_ …The sun burned, even as it lowered in the sky.  _Stop it…stop evaporating…stop running away…_

They looked on, aghast, at the rush of fury tearing, slashing at the pulpy, festering mess. Then she froze, sword poised, as if their horrified gazes had pierced into her back.

She turned. “What are you nuts staring at?”

Abe stepped forward, his face stony. “Nina, cool it.”

Her eyes seared. “Huh? I was done here anyway.”

She twisted away from them and grabbed a handful of her blood-soaked hair. Winding the tresses once around her arm, she wrenched her head back and raised her sword.

“Nina!” They surged forward “Oi-!”

With a jerk, she cut free the filthy locks and looked back disdainful, scornful at their perplexed and fretful faces.

“Come on.” She sheathed her sword as she walked through and past them. “It’s almost sun down…” They blinked and murmured and shook their heads, slowly moving after the pale, ragged head. Even as they followed her, they took care to maintain a good distance, so that they too would not be consumed in the spitting embers of her rage and grief.

Abe remained, watching the receding band. He looked down at the mutilated titan. It clutched feebly with its remaining arm at the head which was now little more than a skull. A strange feeling moved through him… _pity?_  He pulled up its lolling head and carved out its nape, finally allowing it to fall.

The sun crept below the horizon, dyeing the dunes red and outlining great, swaggering gaits on the skyline.

They still had a long way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


	14. Spur

The wizened man sat hunched on a small mound of rock. He squinted against the glare of the sun and the sting of the sand-laced air.

“Say,” he rubbed his gums, “you’re not much of a crier.” He looked down at the tousled head bent below him. Even when her mother was taken, when his son was taken-all she’d had was ferocity…pain.

“What are you nattering about now?” She sat back on her haunches. “I bawl all the time-caught my toe in a side-hatch yesterday and it  _hurt_. Like hell.” She looked up at him, annoyed. “You’ve been dragging your feet, old man…we need to bring back five Oryx today and you’re too damn slow.”

He blinked. “Ah.” He scratched and sighed. “That’s not it…”

“Nina!”

“The hell is that-?!”

“Good Lord-”

“It’s an irradiated one!”

“Monster!”

Kago was one of the four other soldiers with them. He turned to her, hand on hilt, his face grim.

The titan was about forty metres away. The outline of two bulbous heads connected to single hulking body was clear in its silhouette. Even from here she could see the matching grins, mouths upturned grotesquely.

She whistled. “Gross…”

“Well this a bother.” The old man leaned on his spear. “We’re meant to be hunting for food.”

“This is our true prey.” She bit her thumb. “I wonder…can I get both napes in one strike…? Or will cutting just one take it out…”

He chuckled. “Lucky you’re so small-getting in them must be light work.”

“Shut it, old man-I’ve had a growth spurt don’t you think?” She stood up.

Kago unsheathed his sword. “Nina four more behind you!”

“A tiny and a three mediocres!”

Nina looked, back frowning slightly. They’d cleared this region two months ago. She turned back to the two-headed titan. There were only five…six? But even so, with seven active rings there shouldn’t be any titans in this vicinity.

“You lot deal with them-I’m going for the mutant.” She looked up at the old man. He hadn’t moved. Isach’s father was a legend in his own right. “The Sand demon, huh…have you lost  _all_  your teeth, geezer?”

He turned and looked back at the advancing titans. “Cut me some slack…” He wheezed. “I haven’t had a swing at them for a while now…”

She unsheathed her sword and leapt down into the sand, making her way towards the irradiated-type. Behind her, she heard the spear clatter to the ground and she smiled slightly.

_Good on you, old man…_

She returned, flicking the blood off her blade. She’d had to cut both napes after all. Her eyes narrowed at the small group ahead. There was still one left of the titans it seemed. She scowled.  _What the hell are they playing at?_

She stalked swiftly towards them.

“Set-you fool!”

“Get a move on!”

“Hurry up and kill it!”

Her eyes widened. The remaining titan galloped towards Set. He flung away his sword and lifted his arms, stretching them wide.

The titan lunged down and closed its mouth over him, swallowing him whole.

“What!?”

“SET!”

“He was eaten, no-!”

“He let himself…”

Her mouth fell open.  _What…the hell…_

“Idiot!” She watched Kago tear forward and leap, shooting off a hook and leaping onto the titan’s back. He brought his sword down, cutting out the nape.

 _Why…_ It crashed to the ground.

She held her head.  _Why…did he stop and…?_

 

The Base ring came into view as they returned. The Oryx were slung from spears, feet tied, and tongues lolling.

Nina’s eyes narrowed at the group gathered on its far side. Almost all were senior combatants. Their voices rose and swarmed in a deep, collective murmur.

“What now…?”

“Why didn’t he assign someone?!”

“He didn’t expect to…not yet-”

“Well, look where that’s got us now.”

“Who’s going to take his place?”

“I can’t believe it-”

“What are you talking about, there’s plenty that can-”

“No! We need to do this properly-”

“The trials?”

“This isn’t fifty years ago…”

“He mentioned her…”

“What! She’s-”

“What’s going on?” Nina stepped into the ring throwing down her spear with the kill. The huddle opened up. She tilted her head. “Where’s Abe?”

Their faces were grim, bleak. Kobe stepped forward.

“The commander has been killed.”

“How.” Her voice was flat and her eyes bored into him.

His jaw trembled. “On this morning’s solo mission-we just got the fail code.” He gripped the walky-talky.

She covered her eyes. “Right. Who’s going to succeed?”

He drew back slightly. Her voice had become crushingly hollow. “We were just-”

They gathered behind him. She removed her hand and he saw how empty and dark her eyes were.

“What the hell’s wrong with you all? Isn’t there someone in line?”

Kobe swallowed. “He didn’t appoint anyone.”

“Then?” She began to glare. “What will you do?” Their eyes turned to her, uncertain, desolate.

She froze.  _Me…?_

“Woah…” She stepped back. “Hey…what are you geezers thinking? A squirt like me?” She laughed raggedly.

Kobe squared his shoulders. “Out of all of us, you are undisputedly the most-”

“Are you mental? Have you really been fighting with me for the past seven years?”

He fell silent. He knew…God, he knew…how useless words were when she went for the kill. He was sure that in that moment the flesh of a titan and that of a human were as good as the same.

“There’s no way I can lead.” She whispered “I’m not good at protecting other people. Really, I’m a selfish bitch.”

She turned away from them and moved from the edge. No one tried to plead, to call after her. She seemed to stop at the hatch for a second then leapt down the steps, disappearing into the gloom.

 

Nina reached for the small knapsack bound over her sword. Shrugging off the scabbard, she opened it and pulled out the tightly bundled grey suit.  She dragged it on over her clothes, pulling up the hood and zipping up its mask. She put on the goggles and slipped on the gloves. It would take about three hours to get to the Q-zone. The murkiness of the base was tinged green through the goggle lens. She’d have to move fast.

The Q-zone consisted of an area that spanned about half the perimeter of the metropolis’ outskirts. It was separated by a metre thick wall of glass that rose to the base’s ceiling. It had exactly four entrances all with sentinels and operated by iris and fingerprint recognition.

She arrived at the far end where the glass wall curved sharply on a bed of dirt. Nina kicked her heel and drilled about half a metre downward. The rocky earth fell away to reveal a pre-dug tunnel. She jumped down.

After about twenty minutes of belly-crawling, she saw thin rectangles of light on the roof of the tunnel a few metres ahead. She slithered forward and unscrewed the lid of the vent and swung herself into the small room below.

“Nina!” A girl with tufty, fawn curls sat up in her bed. Nina’s voice was muffled through the mask. “How you doing, Kiito?”

The girl’s face lit up. “You weren’t coming today!”

“Oh? Shall I go back, then?”

“No, no…” Kiito laughed. Nina’s eyes flicked over Kiito’s body. Her brow tightened at the stumps of her legs peeking beneath the thin coverlet and the remnants of her left arm, under the worn shawl. The room was cool, a fan whirring in the corner. Heat aggravated the sickness’ onset apparently.

“How’s the food, lately?”

“It’s gotten quite good.”

“What about that-the…” Nina coughed.

“That’s…not bad either…” Kiito sighed.  _What was she saying…?_  She watched Nina come and sit on the low, white stool. “Those goggles…they always make you look funny…” She giggled slightly.

Nina wrenched off her mask, tearing off the goggles.

“Nina-don’t!” Kiito shrank away, shocked, fearful. “You’ll-!”

Nina caught her hand. “Shut up.” Her face crumpled. “I’ve still got the gloves on-”

“Nina…”

She bit her lip. “Why…is everyone…going away…?”

Kiito’s eyes widened. This was the first time she had ever seen her friend look so lost, so unsure. She had never remotely been like this, not since…

“Stop it.” Her voice was sharp. Nina looked down at her in surprise. Kiito’s liquid brown eyes swam with tears and she gripped her arm. “N-Nina, you’ve always been…so strong…” She remembered years ago, that day, looking at those bright pictures, those bright dreams. “You haven’t built that plane yet, have you…? I’ve still got dibs on the first spin-don’t…don’t forget that.”

Nina looked down at her and Kiito smiled as she saw the light in her eyes re-ignite.

There was clang on the door. “Kiito, dear…I’ve got another shot of the braker for you.” Nina shot up. She leapt and heaved herself up into the vent then stuck her head out.

“See you!” She hissed and Kiito grinned at her.

The pale, curly head disappeared and she covered her mouth, stifling a sob.

The matron clattered in. “Oh, sweetheart…” She looked down at her sympathetically. Kiito shook her head violently. “Alright then…I’ll come back in a bit.” She clattered out.

Kiito let her head fall back onto the bed-post. “Hurry up, Nina….I’ll stay…” She held up the shimmering stump of her arm.

“For as long as I can.”

 

Nina shrugged off the top half of the quarantine suit and rubbed her elbows. She squinted at the blinking lights of her father’s lab. The flickering made her eyeballs crawl.  _Why doesn’t he change them?_

She heard the handle of the lab door turn and she hurtled into the bathroom. She ripped of the suit, mask and goggles, rolling them into a ball and stuffing it behind the toilet bowl.

“Nina?”

“Yup.” She came back into the room.

Maxim settled himself into his chair and opened one of the countless drawers in his desk. He took out a small vial. Nina frowned. “Who’s that for?”

Her dad sighed. “A woman came to me, begging for it. You wouldn’t know her-Hanni Roten. Two sons with the disease’s advanced stages…and she’s already lost triplets to the sickness…” He scratched his head furiously “I couldn’t refuse her…”

Nina was perplexed. But how many others were the same…? The Q-zone admitted no visitors. What did this women plan to do?  _He’s going to administer it for her…?_  The braking drug was not used on far-gone victims. It was hard to formulate and only those who could be given a few more years were permitted to it. She cleared her throat. He spoke before she did.

“I’ve heard about Abe.” She blinked. He laughed softly, a little bitterly. “You really are my daughter…Lindia has taken up the post.” Nina felt relief swamp her. 

“O-oh…”

_‘Why won’t your father start fighting again? We made unbelievable progress under him, dammit.’_

_Why, I wonder…_ She had asked him many times; he’d always say the same thing.  _“Nina I stopped for a long time when you were born and then your mother…after that it wasn’t the same…Besides I’m needed here in the base-the disease is rearing its head and you lot don’t go easy on the gear, do you now…?”_  and a load of other crap. She was shocked at first.  _Dad? A coward? He’s just making excuses…_ but then she’d just look in his eyes _. No coward could look like that._

That night… almost two years ago…

He slid out a battered, black processor. She moved forward. “Where did you get that?” He raised an eyebrow, half-smiling.

“The vaults, where else?” He opened the laptop and switched it on. “But this model is ancient…I can’t fathom why it was even there…” He took a CPU stick and jammed it into the side.  

“I’ve just come back,” he pressed the start button, “from finishing off an antenna dish. There’s should still be satellites in orbit around the earth…don’t think they were able to destroy those as well.” He grimaced.

“What?” She put a hand on the back of his chair, staring intently at the white screen. “You don’t mean-” He nodded. The screen pulsed blue then shifted to display a dark home page.

“This long after the fallout, the global population should have recovered a significant amount by now…I  _highly doubt_  they have the same little problem we do…” She cast him a sidelong glance. His jaw was firm.  _How can he be so sure?_

 

She shifted as he opened a window. “GPS? That’s practically prehistoric…”

“Well…it works.”

A mass of green dots swamping a pale background flashed up. She could make out a faint outline of a world map as a watermark. There were lots of random splotches of red dots. She blinked. “What’s that?”

Maxim had become hushed, his amber eyes glowing. He steepled his fingers.

“Satellite crop images.” Her eyes widened.

“That means…”

“Crops don’t grow themselves.” He jabbed the screen. “Every one of those red dots is proof that people survived no,  _are_ surviving.” He brought the map into the foreground. She swallowed and her eyes focused onto the Alpha-continent. 

He watched her face fall. “It would seem we’re the only ones left here  _but look_ -”The cursor moved across the map. “The Orient is doing remarkably well…the density suggests rice paddies…the Islands look good too. Europa…” he frowned. There were no red spots. “Well, everyone did aim their missiles there…”

She bit her thumb. “Why aren’t they trying to contact us?” He bit his in turn.

“You do know that the Alpha-continent sustained the least damage in the war-it was almost done for anyway…the metropolis existed many decades before even a whisper of nuclear conflict.”

She raked her hair back. “So…”

“So all past infrastructure has been effectively obliterated on every other continent whilst the Alpha-continent was a little less than spared. Any remaining technology they had has also been rendered useless by after-pulses. It’s very likely that almost everyone who even remotely knew how to operate the remnants perished.” He rubbed his brow. “The humans have been pushed back several millennia…”

She drew in her breath _…all this…was because of the war…_

“But wait! Why are we the only ones with titans?!” She felt him stiffen. “That’s not fair…how come it’s only-”

“That doesn’t matter. What’s important is that we neutralise them as quickly as possible and get off the continent. That way we can get back in touch…with the rest of the world.”

_Neutralise…?_

He opened another window. “There’s signals coming off something on the water…north of the Alpha-continent.” His brow furrowed. “Boats? Why won’t they come on land…?”

He turned to Nina. She had hunched slightly, pressing her fingers to her eyes. “This means…we’re not alone…” She whispered. His eyes widened and he smiled. “No…we’re not.” She grinned at him.

“I better get started on that jet, huh.”

“Yeah, kid. And you’ve got communication under the belt.” She was fluent in at least eight languages. “You won’t have to…use mime…” He fell silent, stunned for a moment.

“Mm…but only the Latin-based…I haven’t gotten the hang of the ones from the Orient just yet. The sun one…it’s hard.” She thought of the strange, pretty pictographs. Her eyes fell on the cloud of red dots.

There was one word she couldn’t forget. A box with three drawers, followed by a box with four:

Ji…yu…

Freedom…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


	15. Conceal

Maxim looked down at the brown, withered back on the operating table before him. Stretching open his right eye, he dropped the microscope contact lens in and blinked, shifting it into place. He placed a gauze white sheet over the unconscious body, only leaving the space from the base of the wizened head to just below where the thin shoulder blades ended.

“Right, chief…your back’s been giving you trouble, huh…” He slipped on a mask. “Well don’t mind me but…” His eyes glowed as he ran a sterilising swab over the area with one gloved hand and reached for a long scalpel with the other. “I’m going to make a copy of a little something, while I’m at it…”

He reached for a thin slim, metallic cylinder. Applying a slight pressure made one end open and split into an array of gossamer-thin, rotating needles.  His face became stony, resolved.

“This won’t hurt a bit.”

 

Nina was surrounded. Or was she exaggerating? Five titans were moving towards her, all from different directions. She tutted, annoyed. They were all barely above three metres… _too small…_ Getting inside these would risk being bitten…she would likely lose a foot, or both.

“Hah!” Her walky-talky crackled. “Tiny titans for tiny hunters!”

She held up it up. “Oi Kago, do you miss your time in a titan’s ear-hole that much? I can leave one kicking and stuff you back in if you like.”

He guffawed. “Say that after you’re through.” Flicking the aerial down, she turned her attention to advancing creatures.

She unsheathed her sword then frowned. Her grip was off in her left hand, the one encased in the glove of the arm-harness; it felt as if she couldn’t tighten it enough. No matter. She switched to the right-she did not have a dominant side.

 

Kago grinned at the small figure returning, sword half-raised.

“That took you longer than usual.”

Her face was perturbed. “Yeah…sorry-I didn’t save one for you-you’re going to have to wait more than two years…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Huh, like you’d be able to hold back.” He took out a compass. “Besides…something makes me feel I can wait even longer…”

She was staring down at her left hand. Suddenly she un-clipped her harness and dragged it over her head. Turning away from him, she pulled the gloved portion off. He heard her gasp. “Oi.” He put a hand on her shoulder. She wrenched herself away.

“U-um, I have to go…” She staggered from him, her fists curled. “I’m going. Now.” She yanked the harness back on and leapt onto a camel. She whipped it into a lumbering gallop towards the base. He looked after her confused, perplexed.

“Nina?”

 

Her right hand shook as she fumbled through the drawers of her father’s desk. Her left hand was tightly clenched. She couldn’t look at it…not again. The image seared in her mind. Wrist, knuckles, fingers…no not fingers…only one. The rest were now steaming stubs. She tried to still her breathing only for it to snag in her throat.

Get the shot…just get the shot…so you can calm down and  _think._ Her hand closed around the vial and she rushed to a bench. She wrenched open a cabinet and snatched up a syringe. She drew up the braking fluid into it and shoved in a needle with her remaining finger. _Come on…come on…_

“Nina…?”

She jolted then stopped, her heart jarring at the horror and despair on Maxim’s face. He rushed forward, seizing her hand. “When-when…”

 _Idiot!_  She hadn’t locked the door _…idiot, idiot, idiot…_

“WHEN!” He roared. She was frozen, shocked. He clutched at his head, his face. Tears streamed out through the cracks in his fingers. “Nina…Nina…” His voice came in raw sobs. She felt her knees shake and buckle. “D-dad…” She tried to pull away… “Don’t…don’t come near…you’ll-”

He held her head. “Nina.” His voice was suddenly quiet and low but still hoarse. “Nina, listen to me,  _listen to me_ …you’re going to sleep for a bit…”

She stiffened. “The vaccine? You’re going to give me the vaccine?”

He choked and nodded.

“B-but it won’t work” She felt her heart spasm. “It won’t-I don’t want it!” She pushed him away. “I’m going to end up like everyone else, I-!”

“No.” His eyes burned. “You will not.” She stilled despite herself. “You will not.” And she felt herself fall into her father’s arms…his heart hammered deafening but steady. She knew then whatever he did, she could trust him…couldn’t she? She looked up into his face. His eyes were stoic, flaming, drying out the tears. How…how could she not?

 

Her lids were pried open by a blinding light.  _The sky…_ She was flying, soaring…The dunes shifted lazily below her. A bubble of laughter escaped through her nose.  _What the heck…?_  She caught the wind by its ears and let herself be borne in crazy loops and turns.

All at once, the dunes were engulfed in a dark mass. It shimmered and seethed.  _Beautiful,_ she thought,  _it’s beautiful…_ Suddenly roots curled up towards her, reaching, coiling. She was dumbfounded. A tree…here? In the desert?

The wind snatched her up and away and she found herself reaching out _…_

_Hey…wait…_

 

Nina woke up, blue lines of light hitting the surface beneath her. She was face down on the main lab table, swathed in blankets. She struggled up, peeling them off-she was strangely hot. She looked down at her hands, her fingers…they were all…She gasped. “Dad! DAD!” She turned wildly. “You did it!” Swinging her legs down, she looked around.  _Where was he…?_ There was a noise from the far corner of the room. Her dad was slumped in a chair, his shoulders bent. She stopped. He suddenly looked so old. His head rose and she saw his face was haggard. “Dad?” He smiled tiredly and tear tracks glinted on his cheeks. “Yes…yes, I did.” He heaved a thundering sigh as if he was carrying the world on his shoulders. She frowned worriedly.  _W-why…the vaccine worked…_ “Hey…”

“I’m tired.” He whispered. “I’m tired…” She slid off the table.

“I-I’ll make you some stew…” She rushed out the lab. Right now, she felt she couldn’t hold him, couldn’t touch him or he would surely break…

She slipped into their apartment and turned into the tiny kitchen. The sink overflowed with dirty dishes. She sighed and heaved them out, moving them to a large tub of coarse sand. She might as well start on them when she put the stew on.

Squatting, she opened a cupboard and took out a large jar. In it were a bundle of dry, brown sticks. She crouched and breathed in their scent. Cinnamon…she was sure Maxim would not protest if she used some water to make a kettle up.

A small itch tickled the back of her neck. She scratched and then felt a long, thin scar… _what…what is this…?_ She rubbed and it came away in her hands. She looked at the scab, repulsed and confused. The skin it had left underneath it was smooth…normal. She blinked and stepped on the bin’s pedal, dropping it in.

 _When I took off the gear…from before…I must have cut myself._ Suddenly the relief crashed into her and she staggered against the counter. She’d survived…

She was alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


	16. Bloom

Maxim crouched near the cliff edge. Nina watched him, lightly tossing the rock in her hand. She adjusted her spectacle microscopes. They were extracting minerals for the components of the braking drug.

“This is an odd place for there to be a ring…” He murmured. They were encircled by sharp, reddish stones, the perimeter of the haven ring almost synonymous with the lip of the cliff. “Normally, they rise up in open spaces…” He scratched at one of its rocks.

“You’re still trying to get some?” She sat back on her haunches. “That hasn’t been possible since the beginning…why…”

“Mm?” His voice was absent.

Nina sighed. Her father had changed greatly over the past few months. He had become even more withdrawn, barely leaving the lab. A new strain of the disease had appeared and several factions had been consumed. “A cure,” he told her, “I’m working on a cure… _once and for all.”_  She bit her lip.

Then there was those unsettling cases of people going missing…Never _, ever_  before in the history of the metropolis’ existence had things like kidnappings occurred. The police were tearing their hair, miles out of their depth. 

She watched him return with another ore, face preoccupied. But it would all be over soon…Titan numbers were falling-it was like before…in the time of the Three Hunters. She let her head fall between her knees… _soon_ …

“Nina.” His eyes had refocused. “Get up.” She looked up in surprise. He caught her arm and jerked up, steering her towards the cliff’s edge. He lifted her face to the expanse.

“Look- _look…”_ His fingers stretched, strained. “This is your birth right.” The setting sun shot purple and gold ribbons across the desert’s shoulders.

“Take it back.”

Her mouth fell open slightly. He let her go and turned back to the ores. “Tomorrow is your first solo mission, right?”

“Yeah…”

He turned to her, eyes blazing. “Don’t die out there.” 

Her eyes widened. “I won’t.”

“Do me proud, kid.”

 

Lindia tossed the keys of a desert jeep to the girl crouched on the ground. She caught it without looking up, tightening the strings of a large rucksack close with her teeth. A dark turban was wrapped around her head, white curls peeking out, stark, bright.

“Go Northwards. The canyons. You’ll be charting new rings.”

Nina’s head snapped up. “What?! I thought I was scouting for oases!” She scrambled to her feet, furious.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

She scowled. “Well, you could have hit me up sooner.”  

Lindia gazed down at her, blind eyes locking with hers. Nina turned away, biting her lip. Kobe came up behind her. “Come on, Nina-you’re not a kid. You’re on the verge of finishing your nineteenth year-you’re lucky you’ve even been allowed to strike out early.”

She glowered and he smiled sheepishly and tossed her a cylindrical object before walking away. “Extra smoke signal.”

She stuffed it into her pocket, seething. She had so wanted to see an oasis-the still pools of water Abe had gruffly told her about, the swaying date palms…She’d even built a stupid water-divining rod. She wrenched open the jeep door and threw in her bag.

“Nina.” Lindia stood behind her, hands closed around her pendant.

“What?”

Lindia reached for neck and unclasped the choker. She held it out.

“You should take this…”

She heard Nina’s steps still then scrape as she turned. The creamy stone was cool in her palm. She felt Nina move forward and then small hands close hers into a fist over the pendant.

“Don’t be an idiot.” Nina murmured. “Mom gave that to you…before I was even born. How can you expect me to take it?”

She let go and Lindia heard the jeep door slam. The windows squeaked as she rolled them down.

“I want clean scrubbing water ready for when I get back.”

The wheels tore up the sand and she revved away. Lindia didn’t move until the sound of the engine had disappeared.

She blinked against the heat of the desert. 

“Roger that.”

 

Nina had been driving for several hours now. She had long ticked off the rings in her head as she had sped past them. Yellow, Snake, Agate…Chrome…Mole…until she had come to the desert ‘wilderness’, where the rings seemed to stop. After this she had reduced her speed significantly-she could not afford to waste fuel. Besides she was still in several No-go zones. As a vast, gaping crevice came into view, she switched back to manual, sitting up in the seat-the desert ended here.

It was flanked by two huge, ruddy cliffs. She slammed on the gears and shot through. Inside was cool and dark and goose bumps began to prickle her nape. Soon she’d enter the canyon lands of hard, reddish earth. The last report on titan numbers in this region wasn’t particularly uplifting. The seemed to congregate here, even with the lack of humans, repulsed by haven rings.  

The towering crack of light ahead grew larger until it was a blinding gash.  _Right._  She rolled up the tinted windows and activated the black-screen. Closing her eyes, she willed her pulse into silence. With a surge, the jeep shot out into the glare. Her eyes adjusted and she blinked. The titans lumbered around her. With no sand to absorb their steps, the tremors they made were even louder. Her eyebrows raised slightly. No doubt she was surrounded by the hulking creatures but they were in far less numbers than she had expected.

They crashed over and alongside the jeep, oblivious to the human inside. To them it was another one of the few animals roaming, albeit a strange one _. Lucky they’re too dumb to notice a difference…_ The jeep also generated its own wind shield, masking her scent. As long as they did not see her, she would get through unscathed. Testifying to past reports, there did not seem to be any visible rings. 

Her lips twitched in a small smile-here she was, a human, speeding through a sea of titans…But she couldn’t keep her pulse hidden for extensively long periods of time-after about seven hours she would start suffering the symptoms of a heart attack.

_Slow down…what are you going to do if you run dry too early…?_

A twisting ravine loomed before her. Once she exited this canyon, she’d be in uncharted territory. Titan density unknown, water availability unknown, species diversity unknown. The ravine was even wider than the rift before. She jerked on the gear-stick-she’d only been driving for three months and there were much too many turns for her liking. After about an hour, she breathed a sigh of relief as the light that signalled the end appeared.

Exiting into the sunlight, she closed her eyes, about to muffle her pulse again, when she realised with a jolt…there were no titans.

Not a single one.

She slammed on the breaks and the jeep juddered to a halt.  _What…?_  There wasn’t a sign of any haven rings either. The earth here was dark and the rocks and cliffs were stony grey. She opened the door and poked the ground with a stick. No, this could barely be considered soil… _nothing can grow here_ … She looked up ahead and saw two huge, bluish mountains overlapping each other about half a mile away.

She restarted the engine and drove on. No one had ever come this far…no hunter had ever set a foot in this place, ever breathed in this air…

She, Nina Were of the Eleventh faction, would be the first.

 

The v-shaped space between the mountains grew deeper as she drove forward. She was sure she could drive straight through once she was upon them. They loomed closer…O _k maybe not…_ The edge of the mountain on the right just covered that of the left. She turned sharply and sped along the mountains base. Why was she going so fast…?  _You’re just going to enter another canyon…and you haven’t seen a single titan…chill…_ The air suddenly felt cool-her eyes flicked to the thermostat on the dashboard: 37 ℃.

She turned into the pass, the jeep veering slightly and slammed to a halt before almost crashing into a large, wiry tree…

_What._

_Huh._

_A tree…why’s there a…_

Her windscreen was suddenly misty…she couldn’t see, she couldn’t-her fingers fumbled on the door handle and she stumbled out. The ground was springy, covered in tufty yellow-green…she bent and felt it…grass…this was grass. “O-oh…” Her head moved to the left and her jaw dropped.

 _There were more._ Trees with thick fawn trunks that split unevenly into twos and threes, branches ending in canopies of emerald green. She turned wildly and saw the river and her chest surged. It came down from the right mountain tumbling, frothing. She tried to follow it with her eyes and found it was too bright…all of this was too bright-she couldn’t see…

She pressed her fingers to her eyes and crouched. Her breathing was husky. A snort escaped through her nose and she found herself giggling. Huge bubbles of laughter tumbled out of her mouth, her nose and she laughed and laughed and fell back, still laughing. Now they could get through it all, now they could  _rise_ …Her ears filled with a flurry of chirrups and whistles…birds… 

She scrambled up and forced her eyes to focus properly and take in the great twisting, shimmering snake. She looked ahead, eyes glowing then felt her heart slam to a halt. Her skin became very hot and a thousand icy needles stabbed every inch of her body. Knees buckling, she fell to the ground a second time.

Titans.

 

The moved on either side of the river, plodding lazily with arms low slung and mouths parted in slight grins. Her eyes darted wildly as she tried to estimate their numbers. There were fifty…no, eighty…a hundred…?

She covered her mouth as she felt herself retch.  _What…why…why…_

 _‘Well what did you think?’_  The wind snapped. ‘ _That they’d all gone poof and disappeared?’_

Shaking, she stilled her breathing and brought down her pulse _. Get a hold of yourself_. Had they seen her? She scrambled up and thrust herself behind one of the thicker trees. Her fingers gripped the faintly gnarled bark. She had to go back, she had to report this…

There was a booster in the jeep’s trunk. If she integrated it and went at full throttle, she’d be at the base in less than two hours. She bit her lip-what kind of a news-bearer was she? To raise their hopes then dash them into the ground…

She pulled down a branch and furtively stuck her head around the tree, peeking through small, pointed leaves. All of a sudden, the bird-song became deafening in her ears and the air became deathly still.

The titans froze and their heads snapped round in her direction, like some terrible formation. Nina felt her heart shoot into her mouth. “What-!”  _Why! My pulse is down, how-! Can they smell me from here…? They can’t, they can’t-_

The titans turned fully, grins widening. All at once they hurtled forward, rushing, galloping. She slumped against the tree, all the air wrung out her body. The ground began to shake.

 _This? It was going to end like this?_  Before she could even tell anyone… _did this…happen to Abe…?_

Her sword-it was in the jeep. She stumbled towards it but knew already how futile it was. She’d be caught up as she fought, then ripped apart…No, she had to get away…or at least try to. Desert jeeps could normally out-speed a titan easily but at the pace they were advancing at now…Her pulse spiked and she beat it down.  _How are they so fast…?_ She wrenched open the jeep door and threw herself in, her feet smashing down onto the pedals. The jeep roared away, ripping out of the valley and back into the stony canyon.

All too soon, their thundering steps began to close the distance between them. Her lips trembled and she squeezed her eyes shut _. Once you get to the ravine, they’ll have to slow down…they can’t all fit…not at the same time_. She entered and felt the jeep scrape violently against its walls. It seemed like seconds before she came out onto the canyon lands, earth blood-red…

 

Her eyes strained through the windscreen. There were no titans here…where were the titans that had been here before? She gritted her teeth- _what the hell…?_

The last crevice came into view. She looked in the mirror. They had regrouped and were hurtling after her faster than ever.  _I can’t think about that now!_  She had reached the gap and propelled through, the jeep almost coming off the ground. They crashed after her.  _Idiots…they’re all trying to get in at the same time…_

The dunes became outlined in the light of the opening ahead.  _I-I made it to the desert…_ A resounding boom threw the jeep to the left. She wrenched on the wheel and righted the teetering vehicle. A titan had lunged for her?  _They’re this close already…_ Her heart hammered-she’d given up hiding her pulse now. The sun beat down as she exited the crevice.

Her fingers began to loosen on the wheel. They were literally metres away…no a metre…she lowered her lids… _damn it…damn_ -a thundering crash in front of her made them snap open. Her eyes stretched wide. A titan had just taken a step… _over_  her. She whipped around and saw they were all tearing past her, ripping up the sand.  _W-what…_ The jeep began to spin and she gripped the wheel, straightening its course.  _They’re ignoring me…?_

The jeep juddered to a halt and she watched as they careered past until they were all galloping ahead of her, arms flailing. Her head fell onto the wheel… _where are they going…why didn’t they…?_  She looked up and her pupils constricted. The group shifted, changing their direction slightly as one awful mass. Her nails dug into the dashboard.

 _If they carry on like that, they’ll come straight to…_ She felt her chest stiffen.

They’d come straight to the Base.

 

 _The Base…the base…_ She clutched her head.  _Everyone…_ She jolted up.

_The ring was down._

_The ring was…_ Her breath came in ragged snatches. She swallowed.  _Wait…wait…_ they’d see them coming. Everyone will just go under the hatch. She kicked open the door. She had to get there-she had to get there now. She leapt out and threw open the trunk, heaving out the booster. Dragging open the bonnet, she slotted it in roughly, shoving in wires. She slammed the bonnet down and leapt back into the car.

Her brow crunched as she turned the ignition. The mass of titans was practically a dot on the horizon now. She rammed the gear-stick, crashing onto the pedals. There wasn’t time…The jeep burst forward, sending up sheets of sand on either side. And she tore through, the dunes parting and sweeping away.

Their galloping backs soon came into view and she pushed to close the distance between them. There was no ring to be seen, but she knew that they were almost upon the base. Straining her neck, she tried to see past the hurtling fiends. What! There were already titans there _…The ones from the canyon lands…?_  What had brought them here..? What was-? They milled around aimlessly but never straying far from the hatch. There didn’t seem to be any humans on the surface…She realised. A group of titans this big would create the most unbelievable noise… _They got down…everyone got down._

Abruptly the titans in front of her crashed to a halt and she shot through and past them.  She wrenched the vehicle round and brought it to a halt. They were directly on top of the hatch now. In spite of her panicked confusion, she felt something a little like relief. _I’m right here…I’m the only human to eat for miles…_

She didn’t know why they were ignoring her-all she could do now was take advantage of it…Now she needed backup. Her hand curled around the hilt of her sword. About an eighth of the soldiers had been sent on solo missions…a fifth were at ease. The rest could only be out on the dunes…If every single hunter came now they could engage the titans realistically. Her mind had cleared enough for her to register that these were quite large…not many tinies.

She bit her lip. Many would die-she wasn’t sure if she…But they should be able to bring down numbers significantly. She reached for her walky-talky.

We have no choice.

 

An icy cool suddenly took hold of the desert as huge, black cloud engulfed the sun. The skies became dark and tumultuous, all at once veined with pulses of crimson lightning. Nina’s eyes were rooted on the burning mass, thunder crashing through her ears. There was a great searing bolt of red and it spiralled down, growing, solidifying. She watched dismayed, petrified as it materialised before her, rising up from the hatch, crushing several titans beneath it.

The fire titan.

 _It’s here…it’s here…in its true form…._ Her eyes travelled up its body in horror. Thirty, no, forty metres…Her head spun. It might as well have been a thousand…It was colossal, jet black, every crack in its skin revealing a spitting, bubbling gash of lava. Its eyes…were like the pits of hell.

Twisting its head, it roared in a deep, guttural bellow, flames streaming out of its cavernous mouth. The titans threw themselves down where they stood and began…

They began to dig.

She fell to her knees. “No, no, no, no, stop-stop it… _stop it.”_ Her hands clawed at her throat-she couldn’t breathe…

They tore at the ground, digging, digging, throwing up sand then earth. Within minutes, they had razed the plains down almost a hundred metres. They smashed and clanged against the fortified metal ceiling of the metropolis, sending shock-waves through the ground.

The fire titan slammed down, beating at the hatch. Its surface crumpled…like paper, like cloth but it did not yield. Nina clutched her head, eyes wide… _they can’t get it in-the hatch, the ceiling…they’re too strong._ The air was stifling and smoky embers crawled into her throat, throwing her into a violent coughing fit. The fire titan crouched down and roared again, its entire body bursting into flames, its fists pummelling the hatch. She was thrown several metres by the heat and impact. In a flurry cinders, the hatch collapsed in on itself melting, dripping away. 

“NINA! NINA!”

Maxim appeared, rushing towards her, eyes wild, his figure dwarfed by two of his huge cases. Hurling himself in front of her, he threw them down. He gripped her shoulders and saw that her eyes had become glazed, her arms limp. “Nina!” Tears began to run down his face as he drew her close amidst the flying ashes. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” Her eyes shifted past him.

“M-mom…?”

He choked and reached into his pocket. “Nina…we were so close…”

A searing pain shot between her shoulder blades and she felt it burst in her chest. It spread and then wrenched through her, as if she was being torn apart. She felt something warm creep and latch onto her neck, cheeks, brow, nose, closing her lids. It spread until her whole body was entangled in a wrapping balminess. She felt like she wasn’t breathing but her lungs did not burn in pain. Then a sudden, glassy cool enveloped her as she felt herself being enclosed. She couldn’t dredge up a single thought-her mind was completely empty.

Finally, an image floated into her mind. The shining river and the curling trees surrounding it. Their branches grew and knotted, stilling her into sleep at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


	17. Nation

Dots bobbing in an endless blue. He was sure that was what they looked like to anyone, any creature that was watching them in the midst of their misery. No, that was what they  _were._ Their land had been devastated, the whole continent permeated with darkness and lethal radiation. After decades of freezing, starvation and sickness, survivors struck out, dredging up the strange, ancient remnants of people before them. With what they found, they took to the sea in an attempt to flee the barren lands and deadly waves.

The man spat bitterly. It was soon clear they were hardly better off than they had been on land. They had been drifting aimlessly for several years now. Within days of setting off, they were ravaged by a storm. With barely any knowledge of how to navigate or steer, three ships were lost, the remaining sustaining great damages. Within a few weeks, they had run out of fuel. They’d resorted to tying the ships together, so they would not drift apart. There were no masts and no sails and no one knew how to make any. They were essentially living on huge floating rafts.

There wasn’t a single seaman amongst them. When their supplies had run out, they took to fishing, barely surviving on the meagre catches. They were too crushed, too listless to try to take matter in their own hands, to try learn the ways of the sea. The few who tried found themselves powerless, handicapped-the ocean did not have trees and you cannot till its waves. Besides, no one knew how to operate the strange mechanisms from almost two centuries ago.

The man on deck squinted at the sun high in the sky. He turned away from its mocking light and then found himself unable to move. In the place of the horizon was a dark green mass, fringed with gold.  _This was…_ The man scrambled up.

“LAND! I SEE LAND!”

He leapt up and crashed down onto the deck, stamping his feet. Rushing to the trapdoor, he threw it open. “Land! There’s land ahead!”

Another younger man came up, scowling. “What’s all the racket, Christof?”

More people followed behind him, blinking, and murmuring. Their buzzes and grumbles soon became a hushed silence. Christof grabbed the man who’d come up first, by the shoulders, spinning him around. “Look Adgard, look!” Adgard’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open. He fumbled in his jacket and pulled out a small, curved horn. With all the breath in his body he blew emitting a low, strident blare. People began to rise and fill the decks on the other four ships. They took out their horns and returned the gesture, the air filling with resounding blasts.  

 _But how are we going to get ashore…?_  They had no means of propulsion or sailing. Even as this coursed through their minds they felt the waves shift under them, bearing them forward to that shimmering coast.

This…this was meant to be…a final salvation for all the suffering they’d endured due to the actions of their forefathers. They wept and cheered, throwing up their arms and children.

The current brought them all smoothly to the coast, settling them with barely a jolt on the snow white sands. They tumbled out and into the warmth, laughing, crying.

Christof stood, drinking in the dazzling scene before him. The air was gratifyingly warm. A hand on his shoulder made him turn and he saw Adgard holding up a tattered notepad. “We should put in a final entry in the log…don’t you think?” Christof wanted to laugh- _why not?_  He took the logbook from him and then felt himself still for a second. They had made it…they had found a place where they could truly survive, where they could  _live._

His hands shook slightly as he turned to the last page. Adgard handed him a pen. He wrote, committing their providence to paper and ink. Adgard took the log from him and signed his name underneath his. His face was expressionless as he pressed it to Christof’s chest. “Right. Better gather some wood.” He turned from him and stalked away. Christof looked after him, faintly perplexed. He shook his head and looked down at what he had just written, before he walked to a small fire that had already been built. 

He had never had a particularly good memory but he knew those words would never leave him for as long as he could draw breath. He tore the logbook once then let the fluttering worn pages become engulfed in the flames.

 

Entry 1073

Date:  _Unknown_

Time:  _Unknown_

Location:  _ ~~Unknown~~  Somewhere unimaginable_

_We have struck upon land, finally relieved of our cursed fate._

**CHRISTOF MARLEY**

**_Adgard Fritz_  **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE TO READER: If you're enjoying the story so far, be sure to comment with any questions/ (constructive) criticism.  
> Have a nice day!❀


End file.
